Suzanne, who was a very diligent worker and took pride in being a team player in her office job, stayed late at work one day to finish some paperwork: Law with Criminal Justice Assignment, ATU, Ireland

QUESTION 1

Suzanne, who was a very diligent worker and took pride in being a team player in her office job, stayed late at work one day to finish some paperwork. She thought that she was alone in the office, but as she went to leave her co-worker Dave appeared from the shadows and locked the main door. Suzanne asked him what he was doing, told him that she wanted to leave, and walked towards the door. Dave told her that he was annoyed that she had used the last of the printing paper earlier in the day, that she was always doing things like that, that she was a selfish colleague, and that he had had enough of it. Suzanne told him that he was being ridiculous, that there was more paper due to be delivered the next day, and that this was not the time or the place to raise any work-related problems he might have with her. She told him that
she was leaving and asked him to unlock the door.

Dave refused and told her that she could not leave without apologizing to him for being a “selfish cow”. He then pushed Suzanne onto the ground, and kneeled down beside her, trying to restrain her. Suzanne screamed out and tried to struggle against Dave. She reached out and grabbed the leg of a nearby chair, pulled the chair towards her, and made it fall on Dave’s head. He was dazed by this and distracted for a moment which allowed Suzanne to wriggle away from him. As Dave went to grab her again, Suzanne caught hold of a heavy paperweight from her own desk and struck Dave on the head with it. Dave fell in an unconscious heap, with blood streaming from his head, and Suzanne struck him twice more with the paperweight. Dave died as a result of the injuries to his head. Medical evidence suggested that although the first blow from the paperweight fractured his skull he was not dead at this point. The medical evidence further suggested that it was the second and third blows that caused extensive further injury and ultimately Dave’s death.

QUESTION 2

Sarah and her co-worker Tommy had been generally friendly with one another since they started to work together in the Ocean View Hotel two years ago. For the past six months, on the evidence of others working at the hotel, it seems that Tommy has been telling everyone that he is in love with Sarah, and trying to find ways to be on the same shift as her, to work closely with her, and to socialize with her after work. Sarah was not interested in Tommy romantically
and found his advances overwhelming. She told him that she just wanted to be friends, but she says that Tommy continued to text her at all hours of the day and night, to rearrange work schedules to be on shift with her and that she had seen him once or twice outside her home late at night.

Early in the morning of November 5th, 2020, Sarah and Tommy were finishing a shift working in the hotel bar. Sarah offered to drop Tommy home (this was overheard by a co-worker). However, on the way home, Sarah drove her car down a narrow pier not far from the hotel, which is usually used only by fishermen for access to their boats. She drove straight through two barriers along the pier and plunged the car into the water at the end of the pier. While
Sarah herself managed to swim to safety and was assisted by some local fishermen who called an ambulance, Tommy was unable to escape from the car and drowned. The evidence is that when the car entered the water Sarah’s driver-side window was open, and Tommy’s passenger-side window was not. Sarah was also wearing only light clothing, despite the fact that it was very cold at the time. Sarah knew that Tommy could not swim, and indeed had a very serious fear of water – this had been the topic of a recent conversation among staff members at the hotel.

QUESTION 3

Write a note on any TWO of the following defenses to a criminal charge, with reference to relevant case law and any other legal sources of note:
a) Automatism
b) Duress
c) Insanity

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