Criminal Formative Assessment 2
Noah and Helen have been married for 10 years. For the past two years, Helen and Noah
have been trying to have a baby. However, Helen has not yet conceived. Due to their
struggle to conceive, Noah and Helen’s relationship has broken down, including the
physical side to their relationship. They have not been intimate in over three months.
This has left Helen feeling depressed. Helen has consulted her doctor who has
prescribed medication for her depression and she has started having therapy session
with a counsellor.
Last month, Noah met Alison, a barista at his local coffee shop. Alison started flirting
with Noah. Flattered by her attention, Noah asked Alison out on a date, and they
started having an affair. One day, while Helen was abroad with work, Noah invited
Alison over to their house. However, refreshed from being away from her problems,
Helen decided to return from her work trip early to surprise Noah. When she arrived at
the house, she found the house, apart from their bedroom, in darkness. Wishing to
surprise Noah, she quietly entered the house and crept upstairs. When she entered
their bedroom, she found Noah and Alison in bed together having sex. Upset by what
she saw, Helen shouted, “You are nothing but a cheating pig, Noah. You have been
blaming everything on me when all this time you have been having an affair with this
tramp!” Alison, angry at being called a tramp, responded by shouting, “It is not my fault
you have taken all the fun out of sex by obsessing over getting pregnant. I’m surprised
he wants to have a baby with a dried up hag like you.” Annoyed by seeing Noah with
another woman, and upset by what Alison said, Helen screamed, “That is us over Noah.
I want you to leave now and never come back.”
Helen stormed from the room, and headed downstairs to the kitchen. When she
entered the kitchen she noticed that Noah had cooked Alison a romantic meal.
Infuriated further, she grabbed the knife from the chopping board and stormed upstairs.
As she entered the room, she shouted “I can’t believe you have done this to me. I am
trying to repair our marriage while you are sleeping with someone else,” and lunged at
Noah with the knife. However, Helen tripped and stabbed Alison in the stomach
instead.
Worried that the ambulance would not arrive in time, Noah decided to carrying Alison to
his car and drive her to the hospital. Once at the hospital, Alison was treated by a junior
doctor who had been working a double shift. As a result of his inexperience and due to
being tired, he failed to correctly administer a blood transfusion. Alison was a
hemophiliac and died as a result of bleeding out. The post mortem showed that Alison
would not have died if the doctor had correctly administered the blood transfusion, and if
she had been taken to hospital by paramedics rather than Noah.
Helen is charged with murder.
Word Count: 454
