Sister Convicted of Manslaughter 06/09/07

06/09/2007

A fourteen year old girl was today convicted of manslaughter for the death of her 16 year old sister.

Malcolm Christy, Divisional Crown Prosecutor for CPS West Yorkshire said:

"Neither the Crown Prosecution Service nor West Yorkshire Police gain any solace from prosecuting a 14 year old girl for killing her sister.

"If however, anything can be gained from this case, it must be its use as an example of tragic consequences of using knives as weapons."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The victim died in the early hours of Tuesday 27 March 2007.
2. Her death was caused by a single stab wound and the person responsible for delivering the blow was her 14 year old sister, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
3. The defendant accepted responsibility for causing the fatal injury. The issue for the jury was to decide whether the defendant committed murder or manslaughter.
4. The defendant pleaded guilty on 3 September 2007, to one offence of manslaughter. The prosecution continued to call evidence on the basis of a charge of murder.
5. Murder - A person is guilty of murder if they have killed another human being by the use of deliberate and unlawful force, either intending to kill that person or intending to cause that person really serious harm.
6. Manslaughter - A person is guilty of manslaughter if they have killed another human being by the use of deliberate and unlawful force, but with the lesser intention of causing some harm, as opposed to really serious harm.
7. When considering the issue of provocation, the jury must consider whether the defendant was provoked to suddently or temporarily lose self control by things said or done by the victim, and (taking into consideration the defendants age and the gravity of the provocation) whether the provocation was enough to make a reasonable person react in the same way as the defendant.
8. If provocation is established, this will reduce an offence of murder to an offence of manslaughter.