- Published on
KembaraXtra-Case Law-Abbott v The Queen (1977) PC
Case Summary
Case Summary
- Facts: The defendant (D) was ordered by his mother (M) to kill a girl. D claimed he obeyed out of fear that his mother would be killed if he refused. D actively participated in the murder by digging a grave, holding the victim, and filling the grave after she was stabbed by another.
- Issue: Can a principal offender in a charge of murder raise the defence of duress?
- The court confirmed the rule that a principal offender (in the first degree) in a charge of murder cannot plead the defence of duress.
- The defence of duress is not available to a principal in the first degree, regardless of the severity of the duress or whether it is directed against the defendant's own person or innocent third parties.
- This principle holds even if the duress is extreme and would break the morale of a reasonable person.
- Lord Wilberforce disagreed, suggesting there should be an exception for extreme duress, even against innocent third parties.
- He characterized the strict rule as a "blue-print for heroism," implying it demands an unrealistic level of courage from an individual under extreme threat.
- "principal in a charge of murder cannot plead the defence of duress"
- "no let-out for any principal in the first degree"
- "duress be so dreadful as would be likely to wreck the morale of most men"
- "directed not against the person threatened, but against other innocent people"
- "considerations of mere self-preservation are not operative"
- "blue-print for heroism"
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