Councidence Of Actus Reus And Mens Rea

Question 1

What does coincidence of AR and MR mean?

Answer 1

For offence to take place, AR and MR must be present at same time, though there are ways around this, as AR and MR do not always coincide.

Question 2

What is a continuing act?

Answer 2

Where there is initial AR.
Provided at some point whilst AR is going on, D forms MR, then AR and MR coincide
E.g. in Fagan (1986) D drove into police officers foot by mistake (AR of battery) when D realised, he refused to move car, so MR.

Question 3

What is a series of connected acts?

Answer 3

Where there is initial MR, D then performs series of acts connected together to form AR. MR and AR still said to coincide.
E.g. Thabo Meli (1954)
D attacked V, intending to kill, then rolled what they thought was dead body of cliff to make it look like accident.
However V was actually just unconscious and died hours later.
First act accompanied by MR but not cause of death, second act was cause of death but no MR. But still liable as court said “impossible to divide up what was really one series of acts” so D guilty of murder