Provocation defences in murder trials are currently being reviewed by the Law Commission, says Justice Minister Phil Goff. This presumably would include the defence of "homosexual panic", as successfully invoked recently by David McNee's killer Phillip Edwards, although this was not named specifically by the Minister. GayNZ.com has asked the Justice Ministry for the answers to several questions on the homosexual panic defence, none of which have been answered. ACT leader Rodney Hide, in response to GayNZ.com's questions regarding ACT's stance on the issue, forwarded a written question to Phil Goff, from which the information in this news item has been sourced. Hide asked whether the government accepted that "homophobic panic" should be considered a mitigating factor to a violent crime; if so, why; if not, why not and what is being done about it? Goff's answer is reproduced below: "'Homophobic panic' is not a mitigating factor to a violent crime. In fact, 'homophobic panic' may be an aggravating factor in sentencing, particularly if the offending amounts to a "hate crime" as recognised by section 9(1)(h) of the Sentencing Act 2002. "I presume the member's question is intended to refer to cases where the defendant in a murder trial has raised the defence of provocation by arguing that because of so-called "homosexual panic", unwelcome homosexual advances amounted to provocation. Provocation, if proven to the satisfaction of the jury in a jury trial, reduces a charge of murder to one of manslaughter. "Whether a jury accepts a provocation defence essentially depends on the persuasiveness of the case argued before them. No specific bases for arguing provocation are ruled in or out by the law. "The Government is currently reviewing the defence of provocation and other partial defences (such as infanticide and insanity), with the issues currently being considered by the Law Commission. The Commission is expected to report back late next year."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Friday, 22nd October 2004 - 12:00pm