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Elements of Murder

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Murder assignment
Offence
The offence in question is murder, stated in the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA) s 11 that any person who commits murder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be imprisoned for life .
Conduct elements
Conduct Element (Actus Rea)
Voluntariness
Voluntariness of the accused is the fundamental element that forms the Actus Rea of a crime. In order to determine whether A was in control of his physical actions, the death-causing Act must be recognised. As shown in Ryan v R the death causing action can consist of multiple acts . There was a series of death causing acts in this case – the relevant acts performed by A are the initial arrow wound to the shoulder and then the main death-causing act (according to medical evidence) the head collision with the concrete curb. My opinion is that of all the actions together showed the voluntariness was the “complex of acts” all performed by the accused.
I do not have enough information relating to A’s sobriety however it does not indicate that he was under the influence of any alcohol or drugs. In this situation the defence would be arguing his actions were a response of automatism. Due to the fact that A claimed in the police statement that ‘when pulling back the bowstring I lost my balance, the dirt just gave out and I slipped and in doing so reached out reflexively to brace the fall. To rebut I would be more incline to follow the judgment of Murry v R, similar to this case the defendant fully voluntarily put himself in a situation where he could intentionally cause harm . Implying that A had full control over his body when putting the arrow in the bowstring and pulling the bowstring back, even if at this stage he had lost his temper.
Causation

To be found guilty of murder it must be proven beyond reasonable doubt that the accused caused the death of the victim .
Causation

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