''S v Mokgethi en Andere''
[1990 (1) SA 32 (A).] is an important case in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
n law, with the court's determination that, in general, a perpetrator's action, which is a ''sine qua non'' for the death of the deceased, is too remote from the result to give rise to criminal liability if
# a failure on the part of the deceased to obtain medical or similar advice, to undergo treatment or to follow instructions as to his treatment is the immediate cause of his death;
# the wounding was not in itself lethal or was no longer lethal at the relevant time; and
# such failure was relatively unreasonable: that is, unreasonable also taking into account the characteristics, convictions, etc., of the deceased.
Facts
The appellant had been convicted in a Provincial Division of, ''inter alia'', murder committed during a robbery, and were sentenced to death. The deceased was a bank teller and was shot between the shoulder blades during the robbery by one of the appellants. The deceased did not die immediately but only some six months later.
On appeal, it was contended on behalf of the appellants that, although the shooting of the deceased was a cause of the deceased's death, it was not a legal cause of his death.
According to the evidence, the deceased had become a paraplegic as a result of the shot and had to make use of a wheelchair. His condition improved to such an extent that he later resumed his work at the bank. He was, however, later readmitted to hospital, suffering from serious pressure sores and septicaemia. These had developed because of his failure sufficiently to shift his position in the wheelchair as he had been advised to do by the medical practitioners who treated him.
Judgment
The magistrate in magistrates' court held, on an application of the above principles to the facts of the case, that the wounding of the deceased could not be regarded as a legal cause of the deceased's death for the purposes of a charge of murder. Accordingly, the convictions of murder and the death sentences had to be set aside and replaced with convictions of attempted murder. The appellants were each sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in respect of this count.
See also
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Crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
*
Law of South Africa
South Africa has a 'hybrid' or 'mixed' legal system, formed by the interweaving of a number of distinct legal traditions: a civil law system inherited from the Dutch, a common law system inherited from the British, and a customary law syst ...
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South African criminal law
South African criminal law is the body of national law relating to crime in South Africa. In the definition of Van der Walt ''et al.'', a crime is "conduct which Common law, common or statute law prohibits and expressly or impliedly subjects to ...
References
Case law
* ''S v Mokgethi en Andere'' 1990 (1)
SA 32 (A).
Notes
Appellate Division (South Africa) cases
1989 in South African law
1989 in case law
South African criminal case law
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