R v Ahluwalia
Battered woman syndrome could support a defence of diminished responsibility, and a delay before killing did not automatically defeat provocation.
Facts
Kiranjit Ahluwalia suffered ten years of violence and abuse from her husband. One night, after he threatened to beat her and burn her face with an iron, she waited until he was asleep, poured petrol over him and set it alight. He died from his injuries. She was convicted of murder, after the jury rejected her defence of provocation.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial, because fresh medical evidence showed that she may have been suffering from battered woman syndrome and depression, which could support a defence of diminished responsibility. The court held that the requirement of a sudden and temporary loss of self control remained part of the defence of provocation, but that a delay between the provocation and the killing did not automatically prevent the defence from succeeding. At the retrial, her plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility was accepted, and she was released.
Related cases on murder and voluntary manslaughter
- Attorney General for Jersey v Holley [2005] UKPC 23, [2005] 2 AC 580
- R v Asmelash [2013] EWCA Crim 157, [2014] QB 103
- R v Byrne [1960] 2 QB 396
- R v Challen [2019] EWCA Crim 916
- R v Clinton [2012] EWCA Crim 2, [2013] QB 1
- R v Dawes; R v Hatter; R v Bowyer [2013] EWCA Crim 322, [2014] 1 WLR 947
- R v Dietschmann [2003] UKHL 10, [2003] 1 AC 1209
- R v Dowds [2012] EWCA Crim 281, [2012] 1 WLR 2576
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