murder and involuntary manslaughter - Law Reform Commission

involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that alaw-abiding person would observe in the actor’s situation.”(3) A result is intended if:(i) It is the defendant’s conscious object or purpose to cause it;or(ii) He is aware that it is virtually certain that his conduct willcause it, or would be virtually certain to cause it if he wereto succeed in his purpose of causing some other result.(4) The accused person shall be presumed to have intended thenatural and probable consequences of his conduct, but thispresumption may be rebutted. [Paragraph 3.78]6.09 The Commission recommends the retention of the existingparameters of unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter in that a personcommits unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter if:(1) the act which causes death constitutes a criminal offence andposes a risk of bodily harm to another; and(2) the act is one which an ordinary reasonable person wouldconsider to be dangerous, that is, likely to cause bodily harm.[Paragraph 5.38]6.10 The Commission recommends that a new offence called “assaultcausing death” should be enacted which would be below manslaughter onthe homicide ladder. The Commission recommends the following definitionof “assault causing death”:Assault causing death occurs where an accused commits anassault which causes death and a reasonable person would nothave foreseen that death or serious injury was likely to result inthe circumstances. [Paragraph 5.46]6.11 The Commission recommends that situations where death iscaused by a drug injection should not form part of the scope of unlawful anddangerous act manslaughter. [Paragraph 5.52]6.12 The Commission recommends that the current test for grossnegligence manslaughter as set down in The People (AG) v Dunleavy shouldbe amended so that the capacity of the accused to advert to risk or to attainthe expected standard is relevant to liability.Therefore, to ground a conviction of gross negligence manslaughter inIreland it would be necessary to prove:• that the accused was, by ordinary standards, negligent;• that the negligence caused the death of the victim;118