MANSLAUGHTER; VOLUNTARY OR INVOLUNTARY WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS AVAILABLE TO AN ACCUSED

The house of representative member representing ondo,ilaje,ese odo area of Ondo state , south west ,Nigeria Mr. Rapheal Oloye Nomiye died after a sexual intercourse with a female banker who was introduced as his account officer.

The National Hospital in a test conducted by them confirmed that the deceased had sex shortly before his demise.

From the foregoing we can infer that the law maker and his account officer were in a relationship other than managing his account for him, the relationship between this two is referred to as adulterium in Latin and also called adultery in English language.

Historically, adultery has been considered to be serious offense by many even though it is not a criminal offense in some jurisdiction. It still has legal consequences i.e. family law, divorce (this has been discussed earlier on these blog, read up) 

How liable is the female banker?

Manslaughter: This is the unjustifiable, inexcusable and intentional killing of a human being without deliberation which may be involuntarily in a commission of a lawful act without due caution and circumspection.

Manslaughter on its own is a distinct crime and cannot be seen as a lesser degree of murder, what distinguish one from the other is that for murder malice aforethought must be present while in manslaughter there must be absence of malice.

Manslaughter is not a serious crime as murder.

At common law, the offense of manslaughter can either be voluntary or involuntary. The difference is that voluntary manslaughter requires the intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm while involuntary does not.

An example of voluntary manslaughter occurs when a defendant is provoked to commit homicide it is sometimes described as heat of passion killing. In most cases, the provocation must induce rage or anger in the defendant, although some cases have held that fright, terror or desperation will suffice.

Involuntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of another human being without intent, there are two types of involuntary manslaughter, unlawful act manslaughter i.e. a typical case of the house of representative member and the female banker and criminal negligence manslaughter  which occurs when death occurs when death is caused from high degree of negligence usually misdemeanor.

What are the options available to an accused? 

Provocation:  a murder charge may be reduced to manslaughter if;

·         The provocation must cause fear in a reasonable person

·         The defendant must critically be provoked

·         There should not be a time period between which a reasonable person would cool off

·         The defendant should not have cooled off during that period.

Note that it must be found that the degree of provocation was such that a reasonable man will lose control.

Self control; a defendant may only use force that is reasonably calculated to prevent harm to him /her.  

Penalty 

This vary and it is most time at the discretion of the court, in a case of a commercial sex worker Nkechi Okafor that was accused of murdering her client Mr. Abiodun Sarunmi was sentenced to six(6) years imprisonment by Justice Lateefat Okunnu of Lagos High court sitting in ikeja.

Involuntary manslaughter is contrary to section 222 of the criminal law of lagos state and section 317 of the criminal code Act.

 

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL