6. Murder, manslaughter and infanticide

Murder

Definition: Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being under the Queen's (now the State's) peace with malice aforethought (Coke). The old year-and-a-day rule is part of the received law.

Malice aforethought: Intention to kill or to cause grievous bodily harm, or knowledge that the act will probably cause death or grievous bodily harm. Seisay and Siaffa v Reginam treated it as murder where the accused contemplated, or as a reasonable man must have contemplated, death or serious harm, and only manslaughter where some lesser harm was risked.

Punishment: Since the Abolition of the Death Penalty Act 2021, murder carries life imprisonment.

Voluntary manslaughter: provocation

The test: Provocation reduces murder to manslaughter where the accused actually lost self-control (subjective) and a reasonable person would have done so (objective) (R v Duffy [1949] 1 All ER 932, Devlin J).

Duty to leave it to the jury: In Rex v Sard (WACA) the court held that if the evidence raises provocation the judge must leave it to the jury, even if the defence did not raise it. Later Sierra Leone cases include Amara v Reginam and Koiju v Reginam.

Burden: The prosecution must disprove provocation once raised.

No Homicide Act: The English Homicide Act 1957 is not received, so diminished responsibility is not a defence in Sierra Leone.

Involuntary manslaughter

Unlawful act manslaughter: Death caused by an unlawful and dangerous act.

Gross negligence: Negligence so bad as to deserve punishment (R v Bateman; Andrews v DPP).

Infanticide

Infanticide Act (Cap. 28): A mother who kills her child under twelve months while the balance of her mind is disturbed by the birth or lactation is guilty of infanticide, punished as manslaughter.

Abortion

Sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Act: Procuring a miscarriage unlawfully and supplying the means. The English Abortion Act 1967 does not apply.