Criminal law

    We act for Lara Shields. She has been charged with the murder of Ben Salvo. We need to explore what use, if any, we can make of social framework evidence of (‘battered spouse syndrome’ (BSS) (AKA ‘battered wife syndrome’) in her defence. We anticipate running the defence of duress. The VSCA (Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal) recently clarified the law relating to the subjective and objective tests contained in the defence of duress in Parker (a Pseudonym) v The Queen. In light of that ruling, and after careful reading of the relevant legislative provisions now in force, and other material you find useful, please put together an advice, in essay form: 1) Detailing the relevance of evidence of family violence/BSS in criminal defences in homicide cases; 2) Setting out the test for the defence of duress; and 3) Outlining what use, if any, we can make of BSS in our client’s defence in light of the facts of her case.       Lara (age 25) has been charged with murdering her boyfriend’s drug dealer, Ben in March 2017. She admits that she killed Ben by striking him ‘about 10 or 15 times’ with a golf club and then a hammer. She claims that Josh told her to kill Ben, and threatened to ‘really hurt’ her and members of her family if she did not do as she was told. Lara admits to being somewhat intoxicated by alcohol at the time of the killing. We have met with Lara. She presents as immature for her years and quite timid. She has a childhood history of child abuse. She reports that Josh subjected her to physical abuse and sexual abuse throughout their five-year relationship. According to the client, Josh has a violent criminal history and has mental health problems. Lara states that she reported the beatings to the police once, but claims they ‘did nothing to help and it just made Josh more violent’. She states that, prior to the killing of Ben, the beatings were intensifying with Josh frequently threatening to kill her, culminating in her hospitalisation in early January 2017 with a fractured skull and some broken ribs. She explained that she did not attempt to leave her relationship with Josh at any point.