CAPE U1 2021 Question

At birth, Kato was diagnosed with organic brain depletion, a recognized medical condition which retarded his brain development. His medical condition, sometimes, impairs his ability to think clearly. At such times he usually experiences an uncontrollable, violent temper and is unable to comprehend what he is doing. One morning while in a coffee shop Kato experiences one of these episodes. He begins shouting at Plato, accusing him of occupying his favorite seat and also threatens to shoot him. He then goes into a fit of rage and strikes Plato. Plato falls, hits his head on the floor and dies. Kato is now charged for murder.

As a defence attorney, advise Kato as to the MOST suitable defence available to him. Use TWO decided cases to support your answer.

ISSUE

Whether or not diminished responsibility is the most suitable defence for K?

RULE

Diminished responsibility occurs when a person has affected or retarded growth caused by trauma or by birth which causes him to substantially lose his mental awareness and commit a crime during this incapacity.

The quintessential cases on the matter include:

R v Bryne (the landmark case)

R v Golds

R v Vinagre

R v Dietschmann

R v Stewart

R v R

The elements of this defence entail; the accused must be suffering from an abnormality, such abnormality must have been due to retarded development and had substantially affected his mental capacity causing such a large effect that he committed the act of murder.

i)The accused must have been dealing with a condition that causes his mind/thinking process to be abnormal, vastly different from the ordinary man

ii)This abnormal thinking processes must have caused retard like tendencies or arrested

development due to birth, disease or an injury/accident

iii)This abnormal thinking process, must have caused the accused to suffer from such a retarded way of thinking so as to greatly impair his cognitive functions and have such a large effect that he goes about committing the crime of murder

*Substantial impairment could mean the accused couldn’t control himself, form cohesive thoughts or not understand the nature of his actions

*It is important to note that it is a partial defence which applies to murder only, and reduces it to voluntary manslaughter.

*There is also the fact that it is the accused who lobbies for this defence providing medical evidence

APPLICATION

In R v Bryne, B was a sex psycho who claimed he had the irresistible urge since he was young, to which there was evidence for. He killed a woman mutilating her body and was charged for murder, after pleading manslaughter it was approved as the judge was erred in not considering he couldn’t control himself. In the scenario above K also possessed an uncontrollable violent temper where he was unable to appreciate his actions. To continue, in R v Vinagre, where R v Bryne is espoused axiomatically, V killed his wife out of jealousy, but claimed he suffered from a particular syndrome which involved extreme feelings of jealousy without any real foundation. This is categorised as a disease leading to arrested development. Similarly in the scenario, K was born with brain depletion (a medical condition) which would have also caused retarded development as stated. Thus, the scenario has similar aspects of the two seminal cases, and seeing that diminished responsibility was established as an appropriate defence in the two, it is one reason as to why it is most applicable in K’s instance.

The next step is to identify if all the elements are met, as if one is missing, this defence is inapplicable. As stated before, there must be an abnormality of the mind, K possesses an organic brain depletion which is a medical diagnosis. Hence, the first element is satisfied as this condition is vastly different from an ordinary man’s brain/mind ( abnormal). Secondly, this abnormality must have led to retarded development caused by an injury, birth, or an accident. ‘At birth K was diagnosed with’ and ‘..which retarded his brain development’ both verify the cause of K’s abnormality and the fact that it has led to otherworldly development. With this defence, the key word is ‘retarded’, which is what separates it from insanity (though it is very possible as a defence). Retarded is closely related to diminished responsibility, yet in order to properly use it, the last element must be established. Continuing, the abnormality must have led to a substantial on K’s thought process in such a grandiose way that he commits murder. Above it stated that his ability is impaired at times and he is unable to comprehend what he is doing during his tempers, which is what occurred with his interaction with P. Thus, this organic brain depletion which occurred since birth causing retarded development has caused K to be so distorted from an ordinary man’s way of thinking that he attacked P during one of his episodes, leading to P’s death.

CONCLUSION

In essence, all the requirements for this defence is met, and especially the use of ‘retarded’ solidified its use over insanity. Therefore, successfully diminished responsibility could be used for K to reduce his murder sentence to manslaughter as it is a partial defence for murder only, and can reduce it to voluntary manslaughter.