Quarterly Summary
| Published date | 01 October 1960 |
| Date | 01 October 1960 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201836002400409 |
| publishedBy | Sage Publications, Inc. |
Quarterly Summary
(Extended reports
of
some
of
thecases here summarised willhe given
in our next
issue.-Editor.)
BURDEN OF
PROVING
INSANITY
R.
v. Bentley
THEdefence toa charge of shopbreaking and larceny was
that
the defendant was a sufferer from diabetes, that he had
taken an overdose of insulin and other drugs, and that these
had induced astrange state of mind, so that, although he
was caught red-handed, he was incapable of knowing what
he was doing.
The
jury
were told
that
if they believed this
they
must
find him guilty
but
insane and
that
the onus was
on the defence so
that
if they doubted
the
case
the
burden
passed from the prosecution.
The
Court
of Criminal Appeal
quashed
the
plain verdicts of Guilty as the onus always
rested
upon
the prosecution to establish guilt and that it
was enough if a reasonable doubt as tohis guilt was raised
in the minds of the
jury;
the summing-up was almost tearing
in two the golden thread which could be saidto
run
right
through the criminal law,
that
the
burden
of proof rested
on
the
prosecution. (r SthJuly,1960.)
SENTENCES FOR INDECENT ASSAULT
R. v. Read
The
Court of Criminal Appeal refused an application for
extension of time for leave toappeal against sentences of one
and
two years' imprisonment to
run
consecutively for indecent
assaultsongirls agedfive and six. Hilbery, J., said:
"The
punishment seems tome all toolittle," and Donovan, J.,
remarked:
"A
maximum sentence of two yearsis widely
regarded as insufficient for offences against small children.
You have to take the public interest into account; if the
Court
were to pass derisory sentences you might get parents
taking
the
law into their own hands". (27th July,1960.)
3
14
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