Upheld: Manslaughter not left to the jury
In the recent case of R v Odunuga [2025] EWCA Crim 532 the Court of Appeal was required to consider whether the offence of manslaughter should have been left to the jury as an the alternative to the offence of murder.
The defendant was convicted of murder at trial. He had been observed by witnesses wielding a machete, persistently attacking the victim, who was stabbed three times in the thigh and buttock area. He sustained wounds, one of which was 17 cms. deep and severed his femoral vein, resulting in rapid blood loss, which triggered a hypovolemic shock followed by a cardiac arrest.
The defendant denied murder on the basis of alibi.
The point on appeal was that the trial judge erred by refusing to leave the offence of manslaughter, in the alternative, to the jury.
On appeal, their Lordships accepted that the trial judge was obliged to leave to a jury a lesser alternative offence, if it was obviously raised on the evidence before the court, a highly fact-sensitive determination.
Dismissing the appeal, their Lordships ruled that the trial judge had applied the correct legal test and had found no evidence about what transpired between the attacker and the victim to support manslaughter. She had not erred in her decision not to leave the lesser offence of manslaughter to the jury. The two deeper wounds were accepted as causing serious bodily harm, a fact which was conceded by the Appellant at trial.
The key issue was whether the Appellant intended to cause at least serious bodily harm. The evidence showed the use of a particularly dangerous weapon, multiple stab wounds of moderate to severe force, and the context of serious criminal activity. Therefore, the judge was entitled to rule that manslaughter was not a realistic alternative verdict.
The ruling reinforced the established principle that a judge need only leave a lesser alternative offence to a jury if it was realistically available on the evidence. It is of particular application in cases involving serious injury and where there is a clear intent to cause serious harm.
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