People v Murray
Jurisdiction | Ireland |
Judgment Date | 01 January 1977 |
Date | 01 January 1977 |
Docket Number | [S.C. Nos. 137/8 of 1976] |
Court | Supreme Court |
Capital murder - New offence - Proof - Mens rea - Recklessness -Murder of policeman acting in course of his duty - Criminal Justice Act, 1964 (No. 5), ss. 1, 4.
Until the year 1964, s. 1 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1861, provided that a person "convicted of murder" should suffer death; but by s. 5 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1964, the term "capital murder" was substituted for "murder"in s. 1 of the Act of 1861. Section 1 of the Act of 1964 provides that a person shall not be liable to suffer death for any offence other than (inter alia) "capital murder, namely - (i) murder of a member of the Garda SÃochána acting in the course of his duty . . ." Section 4 of the Act of 1964 states that where a person kills another unlawfully the killing shall not be murder unless the accused "intended to kill, or cause serious injury to, some person . . ." and provides that the accused shall be presumed to have intended the natural and probable consequences of his conduct, but that such presumption may be rebutted. The accused, who were husband and wife, escaped in a motor car after an armed bank robbery in which each of them had taken an active part. The driver of a private car, who...
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