Zena is a devoted mother of three children. She is married to Yasser. One day Yasser returns
home from work and tells her that he is leaving her for a younger woman. Yasser also tells her that
he wishes to maintain custody of the three children. Zena is devastated. Yasser tells her that if she
goes to court over custody he will take the three children to Pakistan and she will never see them
again. Zena feels that life is not worth living without her children. She becomes very depressed.
She fears that the children will not be safe with Yasser and his new wife. On the night before
Yasser is due to leave, Zena smoothers the three children to death with a pillow. When Yasser
nds out he telephones the police. When the police subsequently arrest Zena she keeps
repeating, ‘They are safe now. I did it because I loved them.’ The police ask a psychologist to
examine Zena. The psychologist’s report states that Zena is su ering from severe clinical
depression and irrational thought processes, but that on some level she understood what she was
doing.
Discuss the potential criminal liability of zena including the defences of loss of control and
diminished responsibility.
Loss of control is a defence only to murder and is a partial defence. If raised successfully Zena
will be acquitted of murder of her children but convicted of manslaughter. The corners and justice
act 2009 section 54 sets out that “1)where a person (“D”) kills or is a party of another (‘V’), D is not
to be convicted of murder if-…b) the loss of self control had a qualifying trigger”, that being the
loss of her children. Due to Zena’s mental state it could be argued that she would not have
reacted in the same or similar way as another woman of the same age with a level of tolerance
and self restraint in this circumstance.
Zena was su ering from an abnormality of mental functioning caused by a recognised medical
condition-clinical depression and irrational thinking. Her ability to understand the nature of her
conduct, form a rational judgment or exercise self control wasn’t substantially impaired therefore
diminished responsibility will fail.
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