In ''S v Van As en 'n Ander'', an important case in
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 ...
, the police were locking a suspect in a patrol van, when the young children in his company disappeared. The following morning, after a search in vain the night before, two of them were found dead from
exposure. The police were charged with and convicted of
culpable homicide
Culpable homicide is a categorisation of certain offences in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the homicide (illegal killing of a person) either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a pa ...
. On appeal, however, the court held that, although it would have been reasonable to continue the search and to make further inquiries, it had not been proved beyond
reasonable doubt
Beyond (a) reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the standard of balance of probabilities (US English: preponderance of ...
that the children would have been found by a proper search. It also had not been so proved that the failure to institute such a search was responsible for the children's deaths.
See also
*
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
* ''S v Van As en 'n Ander'' 1967 (4)
SA 594 (A).
Notes
1967 in South African law
1967 in case law
South African criminal case law
Appellate Division (South Africa) cases
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