R v. BASARE
1959
COURT OF APPEAL
CORAM
- VAN LARE J.A. AS C.J.
- GRANVILLE SHARP J.A.
- OLLENNU J
Areas of Law
- Criminal Law and Procedure
- Evidence Law
1959
COURT OF APPEAL
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
In this criminal appeal, a bench including VAN LARE J.A. as C.J., GRANVILLE SHARP J.A., and OLLENNU J addressed an appellant’s challenge to a conviction arising from an unlawful wounding that led to a death. Recognising that complaints about the trial judge’s summing-up were futile in light of “incontrovertible evidence” and a failed alibi, counsel sought leave to add a new ground: that hospital treatment may have caused the death. The court reaffirmed the causation rule that inadequate treatment of an unlawfully inflicted wound does not exonerate the assailant unless the treatment itself amounts to murder or manslaughter. It noted the deceased received every available means of treatment and anxious care in attempts to save his life. Finding no substance in the appeal, the court dismissed it.
(His lordship stated the facts, referred to "the incontrovertible evidence" and the failure of the defence of alibi, and proceeded:)
Realising the vanity of any attempt to complain about the summing-up of the learned Judge in relation to the evidence as to the appellant's responsibility for a wounding which was followed by the death of the victim, Counsel for the appellant took refuge in an additional ground of appeal, which we gave him leave to file. This was as follows: "The learned Judge erred in failing to consider whether the treatment given to the deceased in hospital may have been responsible for his death."
As to this, it is enough to say that death resulting from treatment of a wound unlawfully inflicted does not, however inadequate such treatment may have been, exonerate the person who inflicted the wound from responsibility in law for the consequences of his act, unless the treatment itself amounts to murder or manslaughter. The evidence in this case shows that, in fact, every available means of treatment was used, and that the deceased was tended with anxious care in an attempt to allay the effects of his wounds, and to save his life.
DECISION
There was no substance whatever in the appeal and we accordingly dismissed it.