Murder
Under section 18(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900, it is a criminal offence to commit murder.
Murder is defined under this section as being a voluntary and unlawful act or omission of the accused which causes the death of another person, and that act or omission is committed:
- With an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, or
- With an intent to kill, or
- With a reckless indifference to human life, or
- By the accused or some accomplice in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission of an offence punishable by a term of imprisonment of no less than 25 years.
An accused person who unlawfully kills another is not guilty of murder unless they do the act or omission which causes the death with one of the four specific intents (mentioned above). These intents are essential mental elements which are required for a person to be convicted of murder, beyond a reasonable doubt.
Maximum Penalty:
The maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment with a standard non-parole period of 20 years imprisonment.
Attempted Murder/Conspiracy to Murder
Under sections 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 of the Crimes Act 1900, it a criminal offence to attempt to murder someone (by any means), to conspire and agree to commit murder or to persuade and encourage another person to commit murder.
Maximum Penalty:
The maximum penalty for these offences is 25 years imprisonment with a standard non-parole period of 10 years imprisonment.
Manslaughter
Under section 18(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900, manslaughter is defined as “every other punishable homicide” that is not considered murder.
There are two types of manslaughter, namely, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
Voluntary Manslaughter:
In cases of voluntary manslaughter, the elements of murder are present, but the culpability of the offender’s conduct is reduced by reason of extreme provocation (section 23 of the Crimes Act 1900), excessive self-defence (section 421 of the Crimes Act 1900) or a substantial impairment by abnormality of mind (section 23A of the Crimes Act 1900).
Involuntary manslaughter:
Voluntary manslaughter can be caused by an unlawful and dangerous act that occurs where the accused causes the death of the deceased. A dangerous act is an act that a reasonable person in the position of the accused would have appreciated was an act that exposed another person to a risk of serious injury.
Voluntary manslaughter can also be caused by criminal negligence that occurs, that is when an accused owed a legal duty of care to the deceased. In order to establish manslaughter by criminal negligence, it is sufficient if the prosecution shows that the act which caused the death was done by the accused consciously and voluntarily, without any intention of causing death or grievous bodily harm but in circumstances which involved such a great falling short of the standard of care which a reasonable man would have exercised and which involved such a high risk that death or grievous bodily harm would follow that the doing of the act merited criminal punishment.
Maximum Penalty for Manslaughter:
The maximum penalty for manslaughter is 25 years imprisonment.