{UAH} IS EVERY DEATH A MURDER?

IS EVERY DEATH A MURDER?

No, not every death is a murder.

According to the criminal law (Penal Code Act) any unlawful killing is a criminal offence. However it is not always a murder.

What then is a murder?

A murder is the intentional and premeditated ct of causing the death of another person. When we say premeditated, it means planned. So if you dig a hole with the plan that you will hide a dead body there you cannot thereafter say that the person died by accident by when you hit him/her.

However, on other occasions a person may also be killed unlawfully but without the malicious forethought. This is what man slaughter is. For example if John throws a hammer from his 12th floor apartment and kills Bob when he is staggering home drunk at 3am, this is unlawful killing but since it happened without planning or intention to kill, it is man slaughter.

There are also other laws that talk about unlawful killing such as the traffic laws. Under this law, if a person kills another person through reckless driving, that person faces a penalty of a maximum of 5 million Shillings or Five year imprisonment upon conviction. This killing done on the road through recklessness is neither murder not manslaughter. However there is a bill (proposed new law) in parliament to change the punishment for this killing to 10 years.

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"When a man is stung by a bee, he doesn't set off to destroy all beehives"

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