Negligently Causing Serious Injury
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If You Have Been Charged with Negligently Causing Serious Injury, You Need Legal Representation.
This offence addresses conduct that, had it resulted in the death of the complainant, would be considered manslaughter due to criminal negligence.
What constitutes Negligently Causing Serious Injury?
Negligently causing serious injury is a very serious indictable offence that is provided for under s 24 of the Crimes Act 1958 (CA)). Negligently causing serious injury is defined as a person who owed another person a duty of care, but consciously, voluntarily and deliberately breached that duty by engaging in criminal negligence (doing or omitting to do an act), which resulted in the person suffering a serious injury.
Prosecutions do not need to establish that the accused intended to cause serious injury as the test for negligently causing serious injury is objective.
NB: this charge sits alongside the charges of unlawful assault, common assault and intentionally causing injury (or serious injury). The aforementioned offence must result in a serious injury, whilst the second need not and the last must also result in an injury (but which need not necessarily be serious in nature).
A serious injury is defined under s 15 of the CA as an injury (or a series of injuries) that:
- Endangers life of an individual; or
- Is substantial and protracted; or
- Causes destruction of a foetus
Other related offences under the CA (that cause serious injury), include:
- S 15A (CA): causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence
- S 16 (CA): causing serious injury intentionally
- S 17 (CA): causing serious injury recklessly
- S 23 (CA): conduct endangering persons
- S 422 (CA): recklessly causing serious injury
Examples of Negligently Causing Serious Injury
Negligently causing serious injury covers a broad range of actions and behaviours, and common everyday examples include:
- A parent notices their child is unwell but neglects to take their child to a doctor and the child ultimately ends up in intensive care with a very serious medical condition.
- A company installs a new playground but does not install it correctly and a child is seriously injured as a result of the playground collapsing.
- A property owner decides to chop down a tree but does not safely secure the tree prior to chopping the tree down and an assistant is seriously injured as a result of falling branches/trunks.
Police Interview
Questions to Consider Before Pleading Guilty or Not Guilty
If you have been suspected of committing the offence of intentionally causing serious injury, often you would be asked to attend a formal police interview that is recorded for the purposes of evidence and whether or not to formally charge you. At this stage, police have investigated the offence and may have a range of evidence against you that they will not inform you about. Before the interview, you are given the option to contact a lawyer for legal advice/support/ representation. We can provide you with specialised confidential legal advice over the phone or in conference at our offices that address all your concerns before beginning a police interview.
We can also prepare you well for answering questions police ask of you. We can accompany you at the formal police interview to help ease your apprehension. Police are experts in interrogation and obtaining admissions from you to help them build a strong case against you.
Questions to Consider Before Pleading Guilty or Not Guilty
To determine whether you have a good prospect of success in defending your charge of negligently causing serious injury, it is important to weigh up the following important points:
- Does the prosecution have a strong case against me?
- Should I plead guilty or not guilty where I defend my charge at a contested hearing or at trial?
- What did I do or fail to do?
- Was I responsible for the victim’s health and safety?
- Did I owe a duty of care to the victim?
- Was the victim injured?
- Is the injury serious?
- When did the offence occur?
- Was a co-accused charged?
- Do the circumstances of my actions amount to ‘gross violence’?
- What options are available to minimise my penalty?
- Do I have a lawful reason to justify why I carried out the offence (can a defence be relied on to argue my innocence)?
Where Will my Matter be Heard?
Negligently causing serious injury is an indictable offence which is generally dealt with in the County Court of Victoria. However, the Magistrates Court of Victoria also has jurisdiction to deal with the matter. If both the Prosecution and defence agree to summary jurisdiction, and the Magistrate is of the opinion the offending is not seriously substantial enough to enliven the committal jurisdiction.
Defences
If you believe you are not guilty of the offence or are of the belief that the charge is more severe compared to the allegation, our lawyers can review the evidence against you to determine the merits of contesting the charges.
Defences to offending are minimal and difficult to argue in Court these include duress, self-defence and emergency. It may be that our expert lawyers can negotiate the charges down to less serious charges that are more appropriate in the circumstances. If a valid defence exists, our team will identify the defences available to you and discuss your options and likelihood of success.
For detailed information related to defences to criminal charges, click here.
Penalties
Considerations When Sentencing
If you are found guilty of the offence of negligently causing serious injury, one of the following penalties will likely be imposed:
- Term of imprisonment
o Level 5 offence imprisonment, being a maximum of 10 years - A community corrections order (conviction or non-conviction)
- A promise (to the Court to be of good behaviour)
- A financial fine (conviction or non-conviction)
- Youth Justice Centre Order (see here for more information)
Considerations When Sentencing
Courts consider a range of factors when determining the most appropriate penalty for the defendant.
- Nature/gravity of the offending conduct – the defendant’s precise role in the offence
- Facts surrounding the offence (like personal matters and criminal history of the defendant)
- Whether the offence has a mandatory (or standard) sentence
- Level of planning involved, and method used
- Length of time the offence occurred over
- Whether a person/s were in company, or a type of weapon/instrument was involved, and the person/’s or weapon’s/instrument’s role
- Type of serious injury caused to the victim
- Location of the offence
- Impact on the victim (in both the short and long term)
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What are the Next Steps?
Negligently causing Serious Injury is an alternate charge to manslaughter where the victim has not died as a result of the incident. Therefore, the offence is a very serious charge and carries with it a term of imprisonment.
It is important to engage with an expert criminal lawyer as soon as possible to ensure you obtain the most favourable outcome in the circumstances. The team at MK Law are well versed in criminal defence and can review your case to determine any valid defences to the charge or how best to minimise the overall penalty. Contact our office today on 1800 130 120 to speak with our expert criminal defence lawyers today.
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