LA1010 May ZB

CertHE COMMON LAW

LLB
BSc DEGREES WITH LAW

Criminal law

Tuesday 28 May 2024

You have FOUR HOURS AND 15 MINUTES in which to write your answers.

You must answer the COMPULSORY questions in PART ONE and THREE
from the SIX questions in PART TWO.

You must answer all parts of a question unless otherwise stated.

© University of London 2024

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PART ONE

You must answer these COMPULSORY questions.

1. Anne has hired Zoltan, a local plumber, to renovate her bathroom. As

Zoltan is installing the basin, he gets a phone call. Zoltan uses one hand
to answer the phone call and drops the basin, causing serious cracks.
He decides not to tell Anne as he is worried about bad online reviews.
Zoltan installs the basin, hoping that Anne would not realise it was
damaged. In fact, the basin soon starts leaking. When Anne left for work
that morning she told Zoltan to help himself to tea. As lunchtime
approached, Zoltan was hungry. He searched Anne’s kitchen cupboards
and made himself a sandwich. He then wandered upstairs and in the
bedroom he found an envelope filled with £20 notes. Zoltan took £40
thinking Anne would not notice that the money was missing.

Later that day, Zoltan goes to a laundromat to wash his work clothes. He
has only one coin in his pocket and when he tries to put the coin in the
machine slot he finds it does not fit. Zoltan then realises it is foreign
currency. Undeterred, he goes to the laundromat next door. This time,
Zoltan is successful in using the foreign coin and his laundry is washed.

(a) If you were the prosecutor, what offence(s), if any, would you charge
in relation to Zoltan and the basin?

(b) Explain your reasoning in relation to (a) above.

(c) If you were the prosecutor, what offence(s), if any, would you charge
in relation to the Zoltan and the sandwich?

(d) Explain your reasoning in relation to (c) above.

(e) What arguments could be raised by the defence in relation to the

charge in (c) above?

(f) How would you respond to the arguments raised by defence in (e)?

(g) If you were the prosecutor, what offence(s), if any, would you charge
in the matter of taking the £40?

(h) Explain your reasoning in relation to (g) above.

(i) What arguments could be raised by the defence in relation to the

charge in (g) above?

(j) If you were the prosecutor, what offence(s), if any, would you charge
in matter of laundromat?

(k) Give reasons for your answer in (j).

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PART TWO

You must answer THREE questions in this part.

2. Critically discuss the concept of “intention” in criminal law considering

whether the concept is adequately defined.

3. Archie and Billy have been friends since childhood. However, they
recently had an argument and stopped talking to each other when Billy
started dating Archie’s ex-girlfriend, Cherize. Archie has reacted badly
to the news that Billy and Cherize have decided to get married. Archie
starts posting abusive and threatening messages and comments on
Billy’s social media pages. Billy ignores the messages and deletes them,
but Cherize sees the messages before they are deleted and this causes
her to suffer sleepless nights and increasingly severe anxiety attacks.
Cherize is unable to get an appointment to discuss her anxiety with her
doctor as the surgery is too busy. This causes her condition to
deteriorate to the point she is unable to leave the house. Billy decides to
block Archie from all his (Billy’s) social media accounts. One day, Archie
waits for Billy outside Billy’s workplace. As Billy steps outside with his
colleague, David, Archie confronts him, screaming and waving his arms
aggressively. As Archie is waving his arms, he hits David. David’s cheek
is cut by Archie’s ring. Angry at the cut, David throws a punch at Archie.
Archie moves out of the way and the punch lands on Billy, knocking Billy
out. Billy temporarily loses consciousness and suffers a concussion.
Later, Billy receives treatment for bleeding in the brain, caused by the
punch.

Discuss the liability of Archie and David for non-fatal offences against
the person arising from the problem.

4. Annie is married to Bert. Their relationship is volatile and Bert can be

aggressive, and even violent, when he has been drinking alcohol. One
evening, when Annie and Bert are out to dinner with Bert’s colleagues,
Bert is drinking heavily. Bert begins mocking Annie in front of his
colleagues and keeps calling her a “useless little wifey”. Later that
evening, he makes advances to a female colleague in front of Annie and
Annie storms out of the restaurant and goes for a walk. Annie returns
home later that night to find Bert waiting for her. Bert immediately calls
her a “loser” for leaving the restaurant. When Annie tries to raise the
issue of Bert’s advances towards his female colleague in the restaurant,
Bert bursts out laughing and says, “there’s plenty of women you don’t
even know about.” Outraged, Annie grabs a bottle of wine and throws it
directly at Bert. Bert moves quickly to avoid being hit by the wine bottle
and falls down, hitting his head on the corner of a table. Bert is
unconscious and bleeding. Annie stands over him, and shouts, “Finally
you suffer too! You got what you deserve!” and leaves the house. The
neighbours hear the commotion and call for an ambulance. The
ambulance takes hours to arrive, and Bert dies of the injuries he
sustained in the fall.

Discuss Annie’s liability for the death of Bert.

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5. Critically evaluate the defence of insanity and consider whether the law
on insanity requires reform.

6. Discuss whether Geert, Ilya, Jonas, and Tunde could rely on the consent
of the complainant if charged with a sexual offence under the Sexual
Offences Act 2003 in the following situations (you DO NOT need to
discuss any particular offences):

(a) Geert and Sophie meet at a nightclub. When they finish dancing,
Geert invites Sophie back to his flat for a drink. After they enter the
house, Geert locks the front door, puts the key in his pocket and says,
“no escaping now.” Sophie wants to leave but she is frightened.
Sophie does not say anything and submits to intercourse;

(b) Ilya is hosting a group of friends, including Tina whom he is very

attracted to. Tina does not normally drink alcohol and asks Ilya for a
juice. Ilya pours Tina a drink which is secretly laced with vodka. Ilya
is hoping the alcohol will loosen Tina’s inhibitions. Unaccustomed to
alcohol, Tina becomes intoxicated and she and Ilya have enthusiastic
intercourse throughout the night, after others leave the party;

(c) Grace is invited to a routine vaginal examination. At the clinic, Jonas

introduces himself as a doctor and performs the examination while
becoming sexually aroused. Unbeknown to Grace, Jonas is a trainee
nurse and is not qualified to perform any examinations;

(d) Tunde is a famous singer who has adoring fans around the world.
One evening after a concert, Josie, who had been in the audience,
approaches Tunde to say how much she enjoyed the gig. Tunde tells
Josie he has instantly fallen in love with her. Tunde says Josie is his
soulmate and that Josie should come join him on tour. Josie is
overjoyed with the affection and a chance to see the world. Tunde
invites her to his dressing room where Josie agrees to have
intercourse with him. Afterwards, Tunde kicks her out and says he
does not want to see her again.

7. ‘The case of Jogee [2016] UKSC 8 provided much needed fairness and
clarity to the law on joint enterprise.’

Explain and critically discuss the doctrine of joint enterprise in light of the
above statement.

END OF PAPER

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