Murder and manslaughter in Queensland

Where the line sits

Unlawful killing is dealt with in section 300. It becomes murder under section 302 if any of these is proved:

• You intended to cause the death of the person killed or another person.
• You intended to cause grievous bodily harm to that person or another person.
• The death was caused by an act done in the prosecution of an unlawful purpose, of such a nature as to be likely to endanger human life.
• You intended to do grievous bodily harm to a person for the purpose of committing or facilitating a crime carrying life imprisonment, or of facilitating escape.
• You administered a stupefying thing or wilfully stopped the breath of a person for those purposes.

Everything else that is an unlawful killing is manslaughter under section 303. In practice, most contested homicide trials in Queensland are arguments about whether the prosecution can prove an intention to kill or to do grievous bodily harm, with manslaughter available as the alternative verdict.

Defences and partial defences

A complete defence produces an acquittal. A partial defence reduces murder to manslaughter, which matters enormously because it removes the mandatory life sentence.

• Self defence, sections 271 and 272. A complete defence where the force used was reasonably necessary to defend against an assault causing a reasonable apprehension of death or grievous bodily harm.
• Accident, section 23(1)(b). Where death was an event that was not intended, foreseen, and would not reasonably have been foreseen by an ordinary person. Central to most single punch deaths.
• Provocation, section 304. A partial defence reducing murder to manslaughter. It was narrowed in 2011 so that it is generally unavailable where the provocation was a domestic partner ending the relationship.
• Killing for preservation in an abusive domestic relationship, section 304B. A partial defence introduced for people who kill an abusive partner where the response was in the circumstances of the relationship reasonable.
• Diminished responsibility, section 304A. Reduces murder to manslaughter where an abnormality of mind substantially impaired capacity to understand what you were doing, to control your actions, or to know you ought not do the act.
• Unsoundness of mind, section 27. A complete defence, usually determined by the Mental Health Court under the Mental Health Act 2016 (Qld) rather than at trial.

How a homicide matter runs

Only a Supreme Court judge can grant bail on a murder charge, under section 13 of the Bail Act 1980 (Qld).

The matter proceeds through the Magistrates Court for a committal, then to the Supreme Court on indictment. Expect two to three years to trial. The brief will run to thousands of pages and will include pathology, scene forensics, telecommunications data and often expert reconstruction. Independent expert review of the pathology is frequently the most valuable single expenditure in the case.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions conducts the prosecution. A negotiated plea to manslaughter is a real and often appropriate outcome, and it is the difference between mandatory life and a sentence the court can actually tailor.

Sentencing for manslaughter

Manslaughter carries a maximum of life imprisonment under section 310, but there is no minimum. Queensland sentences for manslaughter vary enormously, from a few years for a genuine one punch death by an otherwise blameless young person, to well over a decade where a weapon was used or the deceased was vulnerable.

A separate offence, unlawful striking causing death under section 314A of the Criminal Code, applies where a person unlawfully strikes another to the head or neck and causes death. It carries a maximum of life imprisonment and, unusually, requires the offender to serve 80 per cent of the sentence or 15 years, whichever is the lesser, before parole eligibility. Where a homicide is charged under section 314A rather than as manslaughter, that parole provision is often the most consequential feature of the sentence.