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\fs20\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI
\par AT SUVA
\par CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid14381930 CRIMINAL CASE NO: HAC0}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
027 OF 2003S
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\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 STATE
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 v.
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 AKASH ASHWIN
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\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid14381930\charrsid14381930 Counsel: }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 Mr. W. Kuruisaqila & Ms K. Bavou for State
\par Ms B. Malimali for Accused
\par 
\par Hearing:}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid14381930  }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 6th October 2004
\par Ruling:}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid14381930  }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 7th October 2004
\par 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 RULING
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par State counsel submits that the defence of provocation should not be put to the assessors.  He makes the application on the ground that evidence of cumulative provocation is insufficient to raise provocation as a defence, without a \'93trigger\'94
 event. In this case, says counsel, the alleged \'93trigger\'94 of the accused being wrongly accused of stealing his mother\rquote s money was 5 to 6 hours before the stabbing and could not constitute \'93sudden\'94 provocation.
\par 
\par Section 203 of the Penal Code provides:
\par 
\par }\pard\plain \s18\ql \li720\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin720\itap0\pararsid14381930 \f2\fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\b\f0\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 \'93
When a person who
 unlawfully kills another under circumstances which, but for the provisions of this section, would constitute murder, does the act which causes death in the heat of passion caused by sudden provocation as hereinafter defined, and before there is time for 
his passion to cool, he is guilty of manslaughter only.\'94
\par }\pard\plain \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 \fs20\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par Section 204 provides:
\par 
\par }\pard\plain \s18\ql \li720\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin720\itap0\pararsid14381930 \f2\fs24\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\b\f0\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 \'93The term 
\'93provocation\'94 means, except as hereinafter stated, any wrongful act or insult of such a nature as to be likely, when done to an ordinary person, or in the presence of
 an ordinary person to another person who is under his immediate care, or to whom he stands in a conjugal, parental, filial or fraternal relation, or in the relation of master or servant, to deprive him of the power of self-control and to induce him to co
mmit an assault of the kind which the person charged committed upon the person by whom the act or insult is done or offered.\'94
\par }\pard\plain \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 \fs20\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par There is no provision in our Code, comparable to section 3 of the English Homicide Act which provides that where there is evidence
 on which the jury can find that the accused was provoked to lose his self-control, the question whether the provocation was enough to make a reasonable man do as he did, should be left to the jury.  However, that section does represent the common law on 
the issue.
\par 
\par The questions  for me in respect of this application are:
\par 
\par {\pntext\pard\plain\b\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 \hich\af0\dbch\af0\loch\f0 1)\tab}}\pard \ql \fi-720\li1440\ri0\widctlpar{\*\pn \pnlvlbody\ilvl0\ls1\pnrnot0\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent360\pnsp120\pnhang {\pntxta )}}
\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\ls1\adjustright\rin0\lin1440\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 Is there any evidence of specific provoking conduct? and
\par {\pntext\pard\plain\b\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 \hich\af0\dbch\af0\loch\f0 2)\tab}}\pard \ql \fi-720\li1440\ri0\widctlpar{\*\pn \pnlvlbody\ilvl0\ls1\pnrnot0\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent360\pnsp120\pnhang {\pntxta )}}
\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\ls1\adjustright\rin0\lin1440\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 Is there any evidence that the provocation caused the accused to lose his self-control?
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par In }{\b\fs24\ul\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 R v. Gilbert}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930  66 Cr. App. R. 237, it w
as held that if both questions are answered in the affirmative, the issue of provocation should be left to the jury even if in the opinion of the judge, no reasonable jury could conclude that a reasonable person would have been provoked to lose self-contr
ol.  It is only where there is a speculative possibility of the accused having acted under provocation that the issue should not be left to the jury (}{\b\fs24\ul\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 R v. Alcott}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930  (1997) 2 Cr. App. R. 94.
\par 
\par The common law definition of provocation includes the component of \'93sudden and temporary loss of self-control\'94 (}{\b\fs24\ul\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 R v. Duffy}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930  (1949) 1 ALL ER 932).  This definition is part of the Penal Code definition of provocation.
\par 
\par Acts of revenge are not provocation because a person bent on revenge has time to plan and think.  This negati
ves the sudden nature of provocation.  However the mere existence of such circumstances does not mean that the judge should withdraw the issue from the assessors as long as there is evidence that the accused was provoked.  Whether an act was provoked, or 
was done in revenge is a matter for the assessors to decide.
\par 
\par Further, acts of previous provocative conduct are admissible to allow the assessors to view the act of killing in its proper context.  It was held in }{\b\fs24\ul\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 R v. Thornton}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930  96 Cr. App. R. 112 that previous acts of provocation may be admissible to establish a sudden loss of self-control on the day of the killing.
\par 
\par In }{\b\fs24\ul\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 R v. Thornton}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
 (No. 2) (1996) 2 Cr. App. R. 108, the Court of Appeal said that a jury might more easily find that there was a sudden loss of se
lf-control triggered by a minor incident if the accused had endured prolonged insult, on the basis that the trigger event was the last straw.
\par 
\par In }{\b\fs24\ul\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 R v. Ahluwalia}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
 (1992) 4 ALL ER 889, a decision cited to me by counsel for the defence, the appellant was charg
ed with murder.  She had suffered years of abuse from her husband.  On the morning of the murder she killed her husband by setting fire to him as he slept.  The judge directed the jury that the defence of provocation was only available to the defendant if
 
there had been a sudden and temporary loss of self-control.  She was convicted of murder.  On appeal, it was held by the Court of Appeal that the defence had to be founded on a sudden and temporary loss of self-control.  However characteristics relating t
o the mental state or personality of an individual could be taken into account in determining whether a reasonable person having the accused\rquote s characteristics, would have lost his/her self-control in the face of the provocation.
\par 
\par In this case there is evidence of a 7 year period of hostility of false accusations between accused and deceased.  On the day of the stabbing the accused\rquote 
s mother realised that her husband had hidden money knowing that the accused would be blamed for its loss.
\par 
\par Whether or not the history between accused and deceased together with this last incident are sufficient to cause a reasonable man in the accused\rquote 
s shoes to suddenly lose self-control, and whether the time lapse between the trigger event and the stabbing suggests revenge rather than provocation, are matters of fact for the assessors.
\par 
\par I find on the evidence led in this trial that there is evidence of specific provoking conduct on the part of the deceased, over the years, and on the 30th of July 2003 and of a sudden and temporary
 loss of self-control which justifies allowing the defence to go to the assessors.
\par 
\par I rule accordingly.
\par 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 Nazhat Shameem
\par JUDGE
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\aspalpha\aspnum\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid14381930 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid7302355\charrsid14381930 
\par At Suva
\par 7th October 2004
\par }}