Legal loophole gets murderers off

The common-law “year and a day rule” has existed in this country for centuries. Yet despite calls from the Law Reform Commission to have the rule abolished, the law still remains on the law-books.

The rule stipulates that an act or omission is presumed not to have caused a person’s death if more than a year and a day have elapsed before that person died.

If the victim of some act of violence manages to survive for more than a year and a day before actually dying then an accused person cannot be charged with murder.

“It is an anomaly that can work an injustice,” DPP Geoffrey Henderson told Newsday as he supported a call for the law to be abolished.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Bridgid Annisette-George assured that the law could soon be abolished as part of a larger programme of criminal justice reform.

While this country inherited the law from our former colonial master, the United Kingdom, that country has long abolished it. The UK’s Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act, which got rid of the law in that country was passed since 1996.

Yet, the law remains in force here, despite the position of the local Law Reform Commission which has now recommended that the law be expunged from the law books.

The Commission has completed a bill which would abolish the rule, but this has to date not been tabled in the 2007/2008 Parliamentary term. However, this is something which is soon set to change, the AG said.

“I agree that it (the rule) is an archaic thing that you have to get rid of,” she said noting that her Office is preparing to present two packages of legislation aimed at reforming the criminal justice system.

An abolition of the rule may form part of the second package, she said.