Crimes Act 1961

Crimes against the person - Murder, manslaughter, etc

167: Murder defined

You could also call this:

"Murder is when someone's actions cause another person's death on purpose or without caring."

Illustration for Crimes Act 1961

Murder is when someone does something very bad that causes another person's death. You can be guilty of murder if you mean to cause someone's death. You can also be guilty of murder if you mean to hurt someone badly and you don't care if they die. If you try to hurt one person but accidentally kill another, you can still be guilty of murder. If you do something to achieve a bad goal and you know it might kill someone, and it does, you can be guilty of murder, even if you didn't want to hurt anyone.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM329311.


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166: Causing injury the treatment of which causes death, or

"Harming someone who dies from their treatment is still considered causing their death."


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168: Further definition of murder, or

"Murder can also mean causing someone's death by accident while committing another serious crime."

Part 8Crimes against the person
Murder, manslaughter, etc

167Murder defined

  1. Culpable homicide is murder in each of the following cases:

  2. if the offender means to cause the death of the person killed:
    1. if the offender means to cause to the person killed any bodily injury that is known to the offender to be likely to cause death, and is reckless whether death ensues or not:
      1. if the offender means to cause death, or, being so reckless as aforesaid, means to cause such bodily injury as aforesaid to one person, and by accident or mistake kills another person, though he or she does not mean to hurt the person killed:
        1. if the offender for any unlawful object does an act that he or she knows to be likely to cause death, and thereby kills any person, though he or she may have desired that his or her object should be effected without hurting any one.
          Compare
          • 1908 No 32 s 182