Criminal Law: Assault, Sexual Assault, Homicide - Guides
Assault, Sexual Assault, Homicide
7. Self Defence
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 19 Jun 2015
- Self defence is a complete defence to criminal homicide.
- Self defence can also be a complete defence to assault and serious injury offences.
- A complete defence means that the person charged is not guilty and would suffer no criminal punishment as a result of the murder or assault.
- However the force a person uses must be reasonable in the circumstances.
- A person claiming self defence must be able to show the following:
- they were unlawfully assaulted;
- they did not provoke the assault;
- the nature of the assault was such that the person reasonably feared that they would die or suffer a very serious injury;
- they reasonably believed that they couldn’t save themselves from death or serious injury without using the force that they used; and
- the force used was necessary.
- For example a homeowner found an unarmed intruder in his home. He got out a gun and shot and killed the intruder. The homeowner would not be able to claim self defence as the force used was not reasonable or necessary in the circumstances.
- In some circumstances excessive self defence can reduce a murder charge to manslaughter. This would depend on the circumstances of each case, including the actions of the deceased and the actions of the accused person.
View more Information on Criminal Law