Patna HC: Disciplinary Authority Cannot Impose Major and Minor Penalties in a Single Order  ||  Calcutta HC: Landlord Decides His Residential Needs; Courts Cannot Set Living Standards in Eviction  ||  Orissa HC: Second Marriage During Subsistence of First Remains Invalid Even After First Wife's Death  ||  Karnataka HC: Appeals Against Acquittal in Bailable Offences Lie Only Before High Court  ||  Supreme Court: Stamp Duty on an Agreement to Sell is Leviable Only if Possession is Transferred  ||  SC: Motive Becomes Irrelevant When Direct Evidence Such as a Dying Declaration is Available  ||  Supreme Court Issues Directions to CoC in Builder Insolvency Cases To Protect Homebuyers’ Interests  ||  MP High Court: Women Retain Reservation Benefits After Marriage if Caste is Recognized in Both States  ||  Allahabad HC: Police Must Prosecute Informants of False Firs, and IOs May Face Contempt if They Fail  ||  MP HP: Over-Age Candidate Cannot Claim Age Relaxation Due to Delay in Earlier Recruitment    

R v Mitchell - (19 Oct 2016)

Existence of propensity must be proved to the criminal standard

Criminal

Respondent, Ms Mitchell was convicted of murder of her former partner Anthony Robin. At trial, she did not dispute that she had stabbed Mr Robin, but said she had acted in self-defence. She also claimed that she had been provoked and that she did not have intention to kill him or cause him really serious harm. Court of Appeal allowed her appeal, quashed conviction and ordered a re-trial. At re-trial Ms Mitchell pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was acquitted of murder. Prosecution appealed to Supreme Court against quashing of murder conviction.

There is a distinction between, on one hand, proof of a propensity and, on other, the individual underlying facts said to establish that a propensity exists. In a case in which several incidents are relied on by prosecution to show a propensity on part of Defendant, it is not necessary to prove beyond reasonable doubt that each incident happened in precisely the way that it is alleged to have occurred. Nor must the facts of each individual incident be considered by jury in isolation from each other. Proper issue for the jury in a case such as this is whether they are sure, beyond reasonable doubt, that the propensity has been proved. The jury is entitled to – and should – consider the evidence about propensity in the round. Existence of propensity must be proved to the criminal standard.

Proper question to be posed is whether jury is satisfied that a propensity has been established. That assessment depends on an overall consideration of the evidence available, not upon a segregated examination of each item of evidence in order to decide whether it has been proved beyond reasonable doubt.

Propensity is, at most, an incidental issue. It should be made clear to jury that, most important evidence is that which bears directly on the guilt or innocence of the accused person. Propensity cannot alone establish guilt and it must not be regarded as a satisfactory substitute for direct evidence of accused involvement in the crime charged. It is clear in present case, however, that trial judge failed to give adequate directions as to how the question of propensity should be approached by the jury. On that account, conviction was unsafe and it was properly quashed.

Tags : MURDER   ACQUITTAL   QUASHING  

Share :        

Disclaimer | Copyright 2026 - All Rights Reserved