CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE 2 - 2024

Week 3 Tutorials & Forum

Week 2 (Compulsion and Necessity) ppt presentation.

Relevant statutory provisions for your jurisdiction.

R v Dudley & Stephens (extract on Moodle)

Re A (Children) (extract on Moodle)

Colvin, Criminal Law of Fiji/ Solomon Islands, Kiribati & Tuvalu/ Vanuatu ch 10

Question 1

Clara was a university student. One of her lecturers, Suzie Goodie, suspected that she was supplying drugs to other students so she called the Police Anonymous hotline and left a tip off about Clara. On occasion, police officers patrolled the campus to reinforce the efforts of campus security. Officers Tom Smart and Jack Quick knew Clara. Following the tip off, they were patrolling the campus when they spotted Clara with a group of other students. She appeared to be counting some money that she placed in her back pocket. As soon as Clara and the students saw the police officers approach, they scattered.

Clara bolted towards the direction of her dorm room. Officers Smart and Quick chased her and finally caught up with her as she was about to enter her room. They called on her to stop. When she had done so, they told her they would like to search her pockets. Clara made no reply and offered no resistance when Officer Tom Smart conducted an external pat-down search; he found a number of pills and a powdery substance packed into tiny little plastic bags in her pockets, along with the money that they had earlier seen her put in her back pocket.

At the police station, the officers questioned Clara. She conceded involvement in the drug trade. However, she claimed that she had been involved only because her boyfriend, Danny had threatened to 'smash' her face unless she took part. She has seen him become violent when people angered him and she was beginning to feel scared of him.

Clara has been charged with offences relating to the supply of drugs. Assume that Clara's confession and the evidence of the drugs found in the search of her pockets will be admissible as evidence at her trial. The pills and the powdery substance were found to contain an illegal drug.

Does Clara have any defence(s) available to her?

Question 2

Why did a defence of necessity fail in Latimer but succeed in Re A (Children)?