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7 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Rabey (decision of the supreme court of Canada) (what are external factors) |
Defendant's girlfriend broke up with him and he became sad, lonely and depressed. He tried to claim he suffered from a dissociative condition caused by the psychological blow of the rejection. He tried to claim this was an external factor. Court rejected this and said the 'ordinary stresses and disappointments of life which are the common lot of mankind do not constitute an external cause. |
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R v T (what are external factors) |
D was charged with robbery and ABH (s 47). She claimed in her defence that she was acting as an automaton as a result of being raped three days earlier. Medical evidence supported her claim of rape and she was diagnosed as PTSD. The medical expert said because of this it was possible that when she committed the offence, she was not acting with conscious mind or will. The court said automatism should be allowed to go to the jury as rape was an external factor outside the ordinary stresses of life and that PTSD was not a disease of the mind. |
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Hennessy (what are external factors) |
D was suffering from an hyperglycaemic episode which was an internal cause meaning insanity had to be pleaded. He claimed he forgot to take his insulin because he was stressed, facing difficulties at work and was depressed. Court rejected this argument as they said stress, anxiety or depression which lead to impaired consciousness are not themselves physical factors. |
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Sleepwalking |
Once treated as non-insane automatism but post Burgess was treated as insane automatism as sleepwalking is a mental condition and so an internal factor |
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Burgess (sleepwalking) |
Sleep is a normal condition but evidence in the instant case indicates that sleep-walking and particularly violence in sleep is not normal. This was an abnormality or disorder, albeit transitory, due to an internal factor. |
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Sex-somnia |
Where people engage in sex with a non-consenting person whilst asleep |
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Bilton and Machin (sex somnia cases) |
Despite clear decision in Burgess, in these two cases we had automatism running as a defence. In both cases, the defendants were heavily intoxicated at the time but this didn't seem to be an issue. |
