The Defence of Provocation

Provocation is a defence which reduces the offence of murder to manslaughter. Even though there may be an intent to kill it can be deemed that, in some circumstances, it is not appropriate to be classified as murder. It is not saying the killing is justified or excused. What it is saying is that the circumstances, the response (which resulted in the killing) is within the normal range of behaviour of what can be expected of the ordinary person and that it represents an acknowledgement of human frailty. This is the traditional view of the law.[1] When the penalty for murder was death, often provocation was a way of reducing the punishment from the death penalty to life imprisonment. In jurisdictions where there …show more content…

Where the cases R v Bell[14] and R v Mooka[15] were applied as precedent to the final decision of the cases.

The interests of the stakeholder’s conflict through the trial of the appellant, the attack on the deceased, the relationships of the appellant and the deceased as well as the legal personnel involved with the case. The issues of this case affect the stakeholders as the legal personnel may need to go through counselling, depending on how gruesome the murder has been. The appellant’s and deceased’s family may have lost the main source of income and therefore may struggle to pay the monthly bills or provide for their family. The jury may fear for their lives as they may believe that the appellant may target them because of the verdict that they come to in the court.