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Criminal Law I Question Paper

Criminal Law I

Course:Bachelor Of Laws

Institution: Kenyatta University question papers

Exam Year:2008

KENYATTA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2008/2009
FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
LAW

LPR 100: CRIMINAL LAW I

DATE:
Thursday 27th November 2008
TIME:
8.00am-10.00am
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INSTRUCTIONS:
Answer question one (1) and any other two questions.

1. Mwangi suffers from diabetes and needs to use insulin injections every morning
and night. On Monday morning, Mwangi leaves for work without his insulin
injection. He has been advised by the Doctor to avoid driving because of the
effects of diabetes especially when his blood sugar is low. As such he has never
taken out a driving licence. However on this Monday morning, Mwangi decides
to take his mother’s car without permission and knowing very well that he holds
no driving licence even though he can drive. There is a lot of traffic jam on Jogoo
road and because of low blood sugar, Mwangi starts to lose consciousness, his
actions become erratic so that he drives onto the opposite lane of the dual carriage
way and drives right onto an oncoming matatu. Coincidentally, the driver behind
the wheel of the matatu on the opposite lane is Kimani, Mwangi’s father who has
since divorced Mwangi’s mother. Thankfully, Kimani is not badly hurt and
manages to get out of the matatu safely but on seeing Mwangi bleeding in his
mother’s car, flees from the scene of accident for fear of being arrested for
careless driving. He is aware that Mwangi suffers from diabetes, and that Mwangi
is not supposed to be driving but nevertheless leaves him at the scene of the
accident and runs away. Larry, a police officer attached to Kamukunji Police
Station passes by, looks at the scene of accident and instead of calling for
ambulance and the Jogoo Road police station, he walks by and no one notices him

1

since he is in plain clothes. Chokoraa, a street boy passes by and pretends to be
helping Mwangi out of the car, drags him out onto the road and searches his
pockets where he steals Kshs.1000/= and a Nokia Phone and runs away. A
speeding lorry driver fails to see Mwangi sprawled out on the street and runs over
his legs. By the time an ambulance arrives to the scene, Mwangi has bled to death
from the wound in his forehead and that on his legs. Meanwhile several looters
descend on the trapped passengers in the matatu, pretending to save the
passengers but are instead robbing the passengers.

Discuss the principles of criminal law arising from this narrative.

(30 Marks)

2. In criminalizing some actions and conduct, the state essentially seeks to punish
wrongdoers for actions that are unacceptable and totally repulsive not only to the
state but also the society at large. What are the principles of sentencing?

(20 Marks)

3. “Where the actus reus of an offence can consist of a continuing act then, provided
the defendant had the mens rea for the offence at some time during its
continuance, there will be coincidence of actus reus and mens rea.” Per James J.
in Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner (1969) 1 Q.B. 439

Do you with the position taken by the judge in the above-mentioned case?
Support your opinion with case law.
(20 Marks)

4. “[Once] one has settled the question of but-for causation, the further test to be
applied to the but-for cause in order to qualify it for legal recognition is not a test
of causation but a moral reaction…” Glanville Williams in Textbook of Criminal
Law. Discuss at least four aspects of legal causation
(20 Marks)

5. Discuss any five of the following:
a. Result crimes

(4 marks)
b. Strict liability

(4 marks)
c. Compulsion

(4 marks)
d. Insanity
(4 marks)
e. Wilful blindness
(4 marks)
f. Oblique intention
(4 marks)
g. The principle of correspondence
(4 Marks)

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Criminal Law I Question Paper

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