Recent Judicial Decisions
| Author | John Wood |
| Published date | 01 July 1989 |
| Date | 01 July 1989 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X8906200311 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PROFESSOR
SIR
JOHN
WOOD
C.B.E. LL.M.
The University
of
Sheffield. Legal Correspondent
of
The Police Journal
RECENT JUDICIAL DECISIONS
DRINK
AS A
DEFENCE
of
Appeal
The appellantwas chargedwith murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter
on the grounds
of
diminished responsibility. The plea was not accepted
and she was found guilty
of
the murder
of
her daughter. The basis
of
the
appeal was the manner inwhich the trial Judge had dealtwith her evidence
and the legal effect of her drinking.
The daughter had been strangled with a scarf. She had died some
twelve hours later, without recovering consciousness. The appellant had
rung the police some three hours previously, saying that the daughter had
not returned home as expected. At that time she sounded to be affected by
alcohol. By the time a police officer had gone to the house, the girl had
returned and said her mother had known where she had been. At that time
the appellant was described as looking and smelling as though she had
been drinking, as dirty, unkempt, nervous and shaking.
After her husband had left the house she spoke to her daughter who
complained about sexual interference but refused to say by whom and
indicated that she was going to leave home to live with her grandmother.
The appellant was
of
the opinion that the person responsible was her
current, second, husband. She said that she had no memory
of
strangling
her daughter, who was lying in her bed, blue and lifeless, when she left.
She went to a neighbour to whom she said she thought her daughter was
dead. Later she said that her daughter had tried to kill herself.
At her trial the question
of
alcohol was raised. The appellant was said
to be an alcoholic, and had been so, according to her first husband, since
1980. She told the doctor who examined her that she had suffered from
loneliness and two unhappy marriages. This led to a pattern of drinking.
On the day in question she had consumed 90
per
centofa bottle
of
vodka,
adrink she had not previously taken. When her blood-alcohol level was
testedatmidnight on that day it was found to be 240 milligrammes per 100
rnillilitres. Medical evidence called by the defence indicated that at the
time her daughter was strangled the level would have been at least 330
milligrarnmes and could have been as high as 400. A doctor called by the
prosecution put the figure at 300. Such a level was describedas lethal to
the normal person
but
those used to high alcohol intake can tolerate such
high levels. Indeed the doctor who had taken the sample at midnight on
the day in question found no observableclinicalevidence
of
the effects
of
alcohol.
There were some medical differences
of
opinion. Two eminent
psychiatrists for the defence took the view that alcoholism is a disease but
the Crownexpertdid not accept this view. The trial Judge pointedout the
July 1989 243
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