You are not criminally responsible for killing someone just by influencing their mind. This means you won't get in trouble for just saying something that scares someone to death. However, if you wilfully frighten a child under 16 or a sick person, it's a different story.
You can still get in trouble if a child under 16 or a sick person gets very scared by you and then gets sick or dies because of that scare. This is because you wilfully frightened them, which is not allowed. The law is there to protect people, especially those who are vulnerable like children and sick people.
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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM329306.
No one is criminally responsible for the killing of another by any influence on the mind alone, except by wilfully frightening a child under the age of 16 years or a sick person, nor for the killing of another by any disorder or disease arising from such influence, except by wilfully frightening any such child as aforesaid or a sick person.
