Causing or allowing death or serious physical harm
Section 5 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 created the offence of causing or allowing the death a child or vulnerable adult. The Section was amended by the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims (Amendment) Act 2012. The amendment came into force on 2 July 2012 and extended the offence in section 5 to cover cases of causing or allowing a child or vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm.
This stand-alone offence imposes a duty upon members of a household to take reasonable steps to protect children or vulnerable adults within that household from the foreseeable risk of serious physical harm from other household members.
The offence is made out where evidence exists to establish the following elements:
- a child or vulnerable adult ("V") has died or suffered serious physical harm;
- the death or serious physical harm was the result of an unlawful act, course of conduct or omission of a person ("D") who was a member of the same household as V and who had frequent contact with V;
- there existed at the time of death a significant risk of serious physical harm being caused to V by the unlawful act of any member of that household and either:
- D was the person whose unlawful act caused V''s death or serious physical harm; or
- D was, or ought to have been, aware of that risk and failed to take such steps as he or she could reasonably have been expected to take to protect V from that risk of serious physical harm; and
- the death or serious physical harm occurred in circumstances of the kind that D foresaw or ought to have foreseen
