Jaidyn Leskie Case
I. The Main Facts of the Case
The main facts of the Jaidyn Leskie case are as follows:
∞ Jaidyn Leskie disappeared while in the care of Greg Domaszewicz on the night of 14 June 1997.
∞ Mr. Domaszewicz said that Jaidyn went missing after being left asleep at his house while he went out to pick up the child’s mother.
∞ On the night of Jaidyn’s disappearance a pig’s head and rocks were thrown at the windows of Greg Domaszewicz’s house.
∞ Senior Constable Evans said he could find no evidence that anyone entered the windows.
∞ A teenage boy discovered the boy’s body on 1 January 1998, at the Blue Rock Dam. A small sleeping bag with a crowbar tied to it and a plastic bag containing baby’s clothes, a bib, elastic-sided boots, a baby’s bottle and an apple were found in the dam.
∞ Dr Shelly Robertson, a senior forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Jaidyn, said that the boy probably died from a direct blow to the head while he was in extreme pain from a fractured left arm.
II. Outline the Law relating to murder/manslaughter. Explain who has the burden of proof in a trial and outline in general terms what is required to get a conviction in a murder trial. You will need to point out the law here and list and explain the recognised defences available to the accused.
In the law, the killing of another person could fall under two categories, one could be murder or it could be manslaughter.
Murder is when a person kills another person with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought is one of the six principals of criminal liability that the prosecution must prove for someone to be convicted of murder.
The principals of criminal liability are as follows:
∞ The killing was unlawful: this is about if the killing of the person was lawful or not, such as a soldier killing an enemy soldier in battle which is lawful.
∞ The accused was a person over the age of discretion: this means that only a person over the age of discretion (10 years of age) can commit the crime of
The main facts of the Jaidyn Leskie case are as follows:
∞ Jaidyn Leskie disappeared while in the care of Greg Domaszewicz on the night of 14 June 1997.
∞ Mr. Domaszewicz said that Jaidyn went missing after being left asleep at his house while he went out to pick up the child’s mother.
∞ On the night of Jaidyn’s disappearance a pig’s head and rocks were thrown at the windows of Greg Domaszewicz’s house.
∞ Senior Constable Evans said he could find no evidence that anyone entered the windows.
∞ A teenage boy discovered the boy’s body on 1 January 1998, at the Blue Rock Dam. A small sleeping bag with a crowbar tied to it and a plastic bag containing baby’s clothes, a bib, elastic-sided boots, a baby’s bottle and an apple were found in the dam.
∞ Dr Shelly Robertson, a senior forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Jaidyn, said that the boy probably died from a direct blow to the head while he was in extreme pain from a fractured left arm.
II. Outline the Law relating to murder/manslaughter. Explain who has the burden of proof in a trial and outline in general terms what is required to get a conviction in a murder trial. You will need to point out the law here and list and explain the recognised defences available to the accused.
In the law, the killing of another person could fall under two categories, one could be murder or it could be manslaughter.
Murder is when a person kills another person with malice aforethought. Malice aforethought is one of the six principals of criminal liability that the prosecution must prove for someone to be convicted of murder.
The principals of criminal liability are as follows:
∞ The killing was unlawful: this is about if the killing of the person was lawful or not, such as a soldier killing an enemy soldier in battle which is lawful.
∞ The accused was a person over the age of discretion: this means that only a person over the age of discretion (10 years of age) can commit the crime of