This document Contains the summary of anticipatory crimes lecture notes and case laws.
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- They are also known as inchoate crimes, preliminary crimes or incomplete crimes.
- It is a crime which X commits in anticipation of some other crime. That other crime is called the main crime or the
principle crime.
- The main crime is the crime which X sets out to commit and the anticipatory crime is the crime he commits before the
main crime.
- There are 3 types of anticipatory crimes:
1. Attempt to commit a crime
2. Conspiracy to commit a crime
3. Incitement to commit a crime
Attempt to commit a crime
- This comes relevant when X tries to commit a crime, but does not succeed.
- For example: X wants to murder V. He shoots but misses and V survives. X does not escape liability altogether. He is
guilty of attempted murder instead.
Sources of attempt liability
1. Common law crimes
- For example: Murder and attempted arson
2. Statutory crimes
- This arrives from S18 (1) of the Riotous Assemblies Act.
- Anyone who attempts to commit any offence against a statute or a statutory regulation shall be guilty of an
offence.
Requirements for attempt liability
1. Unlawful conduct
- X must act unlawfully.
- X must do something to try and commit the main crime.
- X’s unlawful conduct must take the form of a commission, but can be an omission.
2. Dolus
- X must have had the intention to commit the crime.
- Mens rea must be in the form of dolus.
- Any form of dolus is acceptable.
- This is not based on culpa.
Forms of attempt (as identified in Schoombie 1945 AD 541)
1. Completed attempts
- Definition: An attempt is completed if X does everything he intended to do to commit the main crime.
- There is nothing left for X to do but for some or other reason he fails. X’s plan does not work.
- X is still liable for complete attempt.
- There is no defence available. He will incur attempt liability.
, Gcabashe 1997 (2) SACR 106 (N)
Mr and Mrs Gcabashe were unhappily married. The husband intended to leave his wife and marry someone else. The
wife hired N, her neighbour, to kill her husband for R1000. She wrote 3 letters to N in connection with the murder. The
idea was that N should get the husband to take him for a drive in his car and n would kill him during the drive. The wife
would still at home. This did happen and the husband was killed. The car, however, overturned during the drive. There
was no proof that N actually killed the husband. The wife was charged with attempted murder. The court relied on the
case of Laurence, which held completed attempt. The wife did everything necessary to arrange her husband’s murder.
She was found guilty of attempted murder.
2. Uncompleted attempts
- X does not do everything that he set out to do
- There are 3types:
Interrupted attempt.
The change of mind.
The attempt to commit the impossible.
Interrupted attempt
- Definition: An attempt is interrupted if X was unable to do everything he intended to do because of an external
intervention.
- X cannot complete his plans to commit the main crime.
- He was interrupted by someone of something.
- X’s liability depends on how far X has gone with his plans before he was interrupted.
- Commencement of the consummation test:
This is used to determine liability in the case of interrupted attempts. The commencement is the beginning. The
consummation is the act of completion. The test is an objective test. It is concerned with X’s conduct, it is not
concerned with X’s state of mine. There are 2 stages:
Stage 1 (Preparation) – The preparation refers to the early stage of X’s conduct. X is starting to put his plan into
action. X’s conduct is fairly remote from the crime.
Stage 2 (Perpetration, Consummation) – This is the later stage of X’s conduct. X’s plans are well underway. This is
the end stage. X’s conduct is proximate (close) to the crime.
From stage 1 to stage 2 the preparation ends and the perpetration beings (the commencement of the
consummation). It is the dividing line between preparation and perpetration. It determines liability for interrupted
attempt.
The test provides that X will be liable if he is interrupted during perpetration. X will not be liable if he is interrupted
during preparation.
Schoombie 1945 AD 54
X wanted to burn down V’s shop. He drove to the shop at 2am to commit the crime. X placed a tin containing grease and
a rag against the door of the shop. He then poured petrol in and around the tin. Some of the petrol ran under the door of
the shop. Just then a policeman on a bicycle came riding up. X jumped into his car and drove off. X was arrested the next
day and charged with attempted arson. The trial court found him guilty as charged. The matter was appealed.
Watermeyer CJ held that the case was one of interrupted attempt. X’s conduct of placing the tin against the door and
pouring the petrol were no longer acts of preparation, these were acts of perpetration. The consummation of the crime
had already commenced when he was interrupted. He was convicted of attempted arson. This case established the
commencement of the consummation test for interrupted attempts.
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