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Crimes Act 1900
14Trial for murder—diminished responsibility
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14 Trial for murder—diminished responsibility
(1) A person on trial for murder shall not be convicted of murder if, when
the act or omission causing death occurred, the accused was suffering
from an abnormality of mind (whether arising from a condition of
arrested or retarded development of mind or any inherent cause or
whether it was induced by disease or injury) that substantially
impaired his or her mental responsibility for the act or omission.
(2) An accused has the onus of proving that he or she is, under subsection
(1), not liable to be convicted of murder.
(3) A person who, apart from subsection (1), would be liable (whether as
principal or accessory) to be convicted of murder is liable to be
convicted of manslaughter.
(4) The fact that a person is, under subsection (1), not liable to be
convicted of murder does not affect the question whether any other
person is liable to be convicted of murder in respect of the same death.
(5) If, on a trial for murder, the accused contends—
(a) that he or she is entitled to be acquitted on the ground that he or
she was mentally ill at the time of the act or omission causing
the death; or
(b) that he or she is, under subsection (1), not liable to be convicted
of murder;
the prosecution may offer evidence tending to prove the other of those
contentions and the court may give directions as to the stage of the
proceedings when that evidence may be offered.