About this book The novel is, at its core, a deep exploration of the moral considerations that drive crime and whether there is some point or level at which crime cannot be considered to be moral in the circumstances. The novel addresses these questions by engaging with an overarching story of true crime, supplemented by […]
Posts Tagged ‘murder’
DARK VALUES AND DEEPER VOICES
Posted: 23rd November 2024 by James Grant in Criminal Law, Education, evidence, International Criminal Law, International Law, mental disorder, poverty, True CrimeTags: crime, criminal law, drug dealing, homelessness, International law, kidnapping, murder, poverty
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Pistorius: A brief reminder
Posted: 10th March 2024 by James Grant in Criminal Law, EducationTags: criminal law, dolus eventualis, murder, Pistorius, Self-defence
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Oscar Pistorius has recently been released on parole. It may be helpful to be reminded of how this can be. Pistorius was convicted of murder — the murder of whoever was in the toilet of his on-suite bathroom. He was given the minimum sentence applicable: 15 years, less time served, and he recently qualified for […]
Marikana: the missing links
Posted: 4th July 2015 by James Grant in EducationTags: common purpose, Farlam, marikana, murder
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The recommendation of the Farlam commission that some police members can only be charged with attempted murder because it could not be proved which officers had shot which miner is, on the law as it stands, wrong. It is important to extract the facts that this recommendation appears to concede: that these officers unlawfully fired […]
The Perplexing Problem of Proof*
Posted: 8th April 2014 by James Grant in UncategorizedTags: evidence, murder, Pistorius, proof beyond a reasonable doubt
If, on a charge of murder, an accused claims to have been mistaken as to whether he was under attack – that he thought the person he shot and killed (who it transpires was his girlfriend) was imminently about to attack him, the veracity of this claim would seem to be undermined by evidence that […]
Evidence of ‘bad character’ and ‘prior bad acts’*
Posted: 5th March 2014 by James Grant in EducationTags: character evidence, criminal law, disposition, evidence, murder, Pistorius, prior bad acts, similar fact evidence
Many spectacular and sensational claims have been levelled at Oscar Pistorius in the media: that he has a bad temper, threated to break someone’s legs, is obsessed with firearms, fired a gun out of his sunroof, and another in a restaurant, was in illegal possession of ammunition and browsed pornographic websites on the night that […]
The (Original) Pistorius Defence
Posted: 3rd March 2014 by James Grant in EducationTags: criminal law, culpable homicide, murder, Pistorius, reasonable person.
In order to understand the defence of Oscar Pistorius to the charge of murder against him, it is necessary to have reference to the general requirements of criminal liability (see the overview on this site). In particular, one must have reference to the requirement that the fault requirement of criminal liability must extend or relate […]
Error in Objecto and Aberratio Ictus: Shooting the “wrong” person.
Posted: 28th February 2013 by James Grant in EducationTags: criminal law, culpable homicide, murder, Pistorius
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If I shoot a gun at a particular person, but I miss, the law recognises that the bullet may easily come to rest in a wall, a tree, or fall harmlessly to the ground somewhere. It could also, of course, strike another person – and this is where things get interesting. This is known in […]