Liability for Homicide, Theft and Sexual Offences: A Legal Discussion

Liability for Homicide: Colin and Bilal's Liability

A luxury yacht operates out of England providing cruising, dining and water sports entertainment to guests.

As part of the service the guests are entitled to borrow jet skis to use only within a designated area of water marked out by buoys. On arrival all guests sign a hire agreement on these terms. One of the guests, Erin, rides one of the jet skis beyond the permitted area and seeing a friend on shore, abandons the jet ski without tethering it to the dock. The jet ski washes out to sea and is eventually recovered but is beyond repair.

Colin works on the yacht with his sister Anita. One evening Anita is out with friends at a restaurant on shore. There she meets Simeon who buys her drinks and the two talk into the evening. When Anita explains to Simeon that she must return to the yacht for the night, Simeon becomes angry and suggests that as he has bought Anita her drinks all evening, she owes it to him to return to his hotel with him. Anita reluctantly agrees. She wakes the next morning in Simeon’s bed to discover they have had sex. She leaves quickly and runs back to the yacht in tears.

Upon hearing of his sister’s ordeal, Colin is incensed. At the end of his shift, he goes to confront Simeon. Simeon is unapologetic and a fist fight ensues that spills out onto the dock. Cornered, Simeon leaps into the sea where he is pulled under by a riptide and drowns.

Bilal is the chef on the yacht. One night, after preparing an evening meal for the guests he retires to bed. Later that evening the guests order pizza and Anita puts a pizza into the oven but then gets distracted. She returns to the galley to find the oven on fire and sounds the fire alarm. Bilal leaps out of bed and attempts to put the fire out but the fire becomes out of control. Victor, a sleeping guest, dies from smoke inhalation.

1. Erin says she was not aware of the conditions of hire.
2. Simeon’s mobile phone has been recovered. It contains a Sexual Consent App which appears to have a record that another user, identified as Anita, has paired her phone with Simeon’s and “provided consent” for sexual activity. Anita says she was too drunk to recall any of this and would never have consented to intercourse.
3. Colin says that he “completely lost the plot” in response to Simeon’s treatment of his sister.
4. Simeon could not swim.
5. Bilal had failed to clean the oven for several weeks leading to an accumulation of food which became a fire hazard. He had erroneously attempted to put out an electrical fire with water.

Based upon the factual scenario and the points apparent from the police investigations, please, discuss the following:

- Colin and Bilal’s liability for homicide, and

- Erin’s liability for theft OR Simeon’s liability for sexual offences.

Evidence of legal research and wider reading

Use of your legal research to support your statements of law, assertions and ideas

Identification and analysis of the relevant issues

Application of the issues and research to the assessment question(s)

Adopting a logical structure

Evidence of critical evaluation

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