Negligent Homicide: Understanding the NSW Law and Violation

Negligent Homicide

What is homicide?
Homicide is generically termed as the act of killing someone in the hands of someone else. This
act requires the activity of a volitional act by the person termed as the “convict” that leads to the
other person’s death. Hence, the reasons behind certifying any act as a homicidal act rests upon
the activities such as accidental acts, reckless behaviours causing lethality or negligent acts even
if there does not lie any strong intension of causing harm to the victim1. Homicides have been
broadly classified into multiple overlapping legislative categories such as murder, justifiable
homicide, and manslaughter, killing in war, capital punishment and euthanasia. The NSW law
acts completely prohibits every single instances mentioned here under the Crimes Act 19002.
Moreover, according the provided scenario, negligent homicide comes into action in this regards
which can be stated as a criminal charge brought against a person who had been associated with
any type of murderous plot or murder as a whole through the aspects of criminal negligence3.
The grievous bodily harms under the NSW law statutes state that such act offer the convict to
contract the victim with lethal pathogenic agents that are responsible for the manifestation of the
fatal disease and finally causes death of the victim4.
Types of Manslaughter
1Braun, Kerstin. "“Till Death Us Do Part”: Homicide Defenses for Women in Abusive Relationships—Similar
Problems—Different Responses in Germany and Australia." Violence against women 23, no. 10 (2017): 1177-1204.
2 Yeo, Stanley. "Manslaughter versus special homicide offences: An Australian perspective." In Criminal Liability
for Non-Aggressive Death, pp. 211-246. Routledge, 2016.
3Loveless, Janet, Mischa Allen, and Caroline Derry. Complete criminal law: text, cases, and materials. Oxford
University Press, 2018.
4Dyer, Andrew. "IL v the Queen: Joint Criminal Enterprise and the Constructive Murder Rule: Is This Where Their
Logic Leads You." Sydney L. Rev. 39 (2017): 245.

Under the Australian law manslaughter is the term used to designate those acts or offences which
are not intentional in nature or which is the result of some accidental acts or commissions.
There are two types of manslaughter:
 Voluntary manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter is an act which is performed intentionally under the influence
of any kind of provocation or rage. It does not involve any kind of previous planning as
it is the consequence of the situation.
 Involuntary manslaughter
Under this kind of man slaughtering there is no existence of any kind of prior intention
5and the act is committed accidentally resulting in death6.
Violation of NSW Law
Bobbi is being shown to represent pro bono advocacy to marginalised groups in the developing
nations. This means that she is aware of the homicide cases and the NSW law of grievous bodily
harms which might occur at par with that of the extraterritorial intervention. The offshore
horizontal transfer of zoonotic diseases and/or communicable diseases is also represented under
the Criminal Act 1900 under the NSW Law. While she was diagnosed with Ebola Virus She was
being prescribed not to travel overseas with the virus still in her circulatory system abducted
from breastfeeding her baby during her quarantine duration. However, she didn’t adhere to the
same and few days later, the child got contacted with the virus and the doctor under call was
shown to be slightly inattentive in his work and diagnosis as well and hence, no appropriate
medication was being provided to the child. Concomitantly, the child showed severe symptoms
of the disease with high fever and blood vomits and was declared dead eventually. Bobbi was
being charged with murder case and also with the alternative charge of negligent manslaughter
under the Crimes Act 1900 No. 40 Part 3 Division 1 Section 217.
5
6 Yannoulidis, Steven. Mental state defences in criminal law. Routledge, 2016.
7 Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) s 24 Manslaughter—punishment