Concealment of the Body of a Child

Question 1

Concealing a child’s body

Answer 1

Concealing the body of a dead child is an offence under s181:

181 Concealing dead body of child
Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years who disposes of the dead body of any child in any manner with intent to conceal the fact of its birth, whether the child died before, or during, or after birth.

Question 2

A child of comparatively recent birth

Answer 2

While the term “child” is not defined, the provision is evidently intended to
refer to a child of comparatively recent birth.

The body must be dead when disposed of, although it is not necessary that
the body should be found and identified.

If the child is alive when disposed of and subsequently dies, it may be
murder or manslaughter or, in the case of the mother, infanticide.

Question 3

Must be done with intent of concealment of fact of birth

Answer 3

The requirement that the act of disposal must be done with the intent of
concealing the fact of birth may be satisfied even though the birth was
known to some people but not others. Thus it will be enough that the intent
was to conceal the birth from a particular individual.

Question 4

Summary

Answer 4

• Infanticide is a charge brought against a mother who has killed her child
  as a result of her mind being unbalanced due to the effects of giving birth
  or lactation.
• Statute and common law impose on various people duties to nurture life
  adequately and provide safety. A failure to discharge such duties makes
  the person liable to penalties.
• When a person deliberately injures another person, and the person dies as
  a result of treatment of those injuries, the person who inflicted the initial
  injuries is responsible for the death. The degree of liability relies on the
  element of mens rea.
• Because the law does not recognise a person’s right to consent to death, a
  person who helps another to commit suicide or who is part of a suicide
  pact but survives is responsible for the other person’s death. In such
  cases the surviving person is charged with manslaughter.
• It is an offence to conceal the body of a dead child.