To kill or not to kill, the difference between murder and culpable homicide
When it comes to murder cases the legal jargon can be quite daunting. We break down different crime definitions on local and national cases.
MBOMBELA – Murder is the unlawful and intentional killing of another person without just cause.
Dolus eventualis – legal intention to kill, which is present when the perpetrator objectively foresees the possibility of his act causing death and persists regardless of the consequences, suffices to find someone guilty of murder.
As per the well-known state against Oscar Pistorius murder case. By his actions, he had foreseen whoever was behind the toilet door might die, but reconciled himself with that event occurring. The identity of his victim was irrelevant to his guilt.
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A 15-year minimum sentence apply to a first offender, hence the National Prosecuting Authority’s appeal against the sentence delivered by Judge Masipa in the Pretoria High Court, where he received six years in prison for murder on July 6 2016.
Attempted murder has the same crime description as murder. The only difference is that the attempt to intentionally kill the person failed.
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Culpable homicide is the unlawful, unintentional, and negligent killing of another human being. The test is whether a reasonable person in the same circumstances would have foreseen the unintentional killing of a person and if the reasonable person would have taken steps to avoid the action that caused the death of another person.
A local case study is that of Annatjie Myburgh, who was murdered by Selby Mabila (28) and Paul Mathebula (34), on July 4. Former member of Bossies Community Justice, Danie Theron, had testified how he had found pangas and a backpack. Her body was found on June 19, 2016 outside White River.
The pathologists discovered that Myburgh had sustained blunt force trauma to her legs, face and kidneys. There had been a closing or obstruction to her airways, indicative that there was the necessary intent to kill her and they could have foreseen her dying from their actions and by the injuries she had sustained.
