Is influencing someone to end their life a crime in Australia?
Law Report
This episode of Law Report examines the legal complexities surrounding prosecuting individuals for murder or manslaughter when their actions le
Key takeaways
- Jacinta Ann Droust is facing murder charges in Adelaide following the death of Antonio Cavaiuolo, a case that could be a legal first in Australia.
- The primary legal challenge for prosecutors is establishing 'causation'—proving the accused's behavior significantly contributed to the death despite the victim's voluntary act.
Main topics
- Criminal liability for induced suicide
- Legal elements of murder and manslaughter
Notable quotes
Is it currently possible to convict a person of murder or manslaughter if they goad or encourage their partner to die by suicide?
Conclusion
The episode highlights the profound difficulty in applying traditional
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:00) ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music and Speaker 1 (0:04) more. Speaker 4 (0:06) Voting is open for ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books Countdown. Speaker 1 (0:12) Go to abc.net.au slash top100books and pick up to 10 of your favourites. Choose from Speaker 4 (0:19) the inspiration list or add your own title. Speaker 1 (0:22) Then in October, we will tally everyone's votes and count down from 100 to number one on ABC Radio National and ABC Listen. Speaker 4 (0:31) You don't have long. Vote now at abc.net.au slash top100books. Speaker 2 (0:40) Hi, Damien Carrick here. This is the Law Report on ABC Radio National. A warning. Today we're talking in detail about suicide and domestic violence. The Victorian Government has pledged to implement a raft of law reforms around domestic and family violence if it's re-elected at the upcoming state election. One promise is to introduce a new manslaughter offence in cases where a person takes their own life due to family violence. So today we're asking, is it currently possible to convict a person of murder or manslaughter if they goad or encourage their partner to die by suicide? This has happened in the UK and in the USA, and right now Adelaide woman... Jacinta Ann Droust is facing charges of murder and unlawful killing over the death of her boyfriend, Antonio Cavaiolo. Ms Droust recently pleaded not guilty to the charges. She denies the allegations and is entitled to the presumption of innocence. University of Melbourne law professor Heather Douglas is one of Australia's leading researchers in family and domestic violence. Heather, welcome to The Law Report. Is the prosecution of Jacinta Andrews for murder a legal first here in Australia? Speaker 3 (2:05) It will certainly be a legal first if it's successful in terms of a murder prosecution that's successful. That's true. I'm not aware of any cases where there's been a suicide and then there's been a prosecution for manslaughter or homicide in Australia. So as far as I'm aware, yes, it's a legal first. Speaker 2 (2:27) What do we know about the prosecution case? What is the prosecution alleging? Speaker 3 (2:31) So basically, Mr Caviolo died by suicide in 2023 and there is evidence that he... was losing weight, had lost his job, appeared fearful to friends and family. There seems to be evidence about those things. But what we also know is that there's CCTV that shows Jacinta Druist stabbing a knife into a wall behind Mr Cavaiolo and telling him not to be a coward and kill himself. Go ahead and kill yourself. So... Those are the things that we kind of know in terms of background to this case at this point, and obviously they're facts that the jury will have to be satisfied about in relation to the eventual trial of this matter. But certainly there's no doubt he was the one who killed himself, so he took the act to die by suicide. But subsequently, Jacinta Druist has been charged with murder. Initially she was charged with manslaughter, but that has been upgraded to a murder charge. We expect the trial will happen sometime probably next year at this stage. Speaker 2 (3:34) So there was a recent court hearing in Adelaide where the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. And the next step will be, I think, a committal hearing in November. And at that committal hearing, that's still a preliminary court hearing held before a lower court. to decide if there is enough evidence to send a serious criminal case to a higher court for trial. So we're talking very much early days. Speaker 3 (3:55) That's right. And all the information in terms of that background will be material that's brought to that committal, presumably, to determine whether that can be evidence in the final case. Speaker 2 (4:04) Yes. So if this does go through the next steps and there is actually a criminal trial, to secure a guilty verdict from a jury... What are the elements of murder or the alternative, manslaughter, that the prosecution would have to establish beyond reasonable doubt here? Speaker 3 (4:22) There are three core elements to murder. The first is that there's a death, which seems to be clear in this case, from Antonio Caviolo has deceased. So we have that covered. The second is causation, that her behaviour, Druth's behaviour... caused the death. So there's a link between her actions or her behaviour and the ultimate death. And finally, that there was intention. Jacinta Druist had an intention to kill or do in Adelaide or in South Australia, grievous bodily harm, or was reckless about that result. So we have to be satisfying the jury of those three elements of murder. The big question here, well, there are two really. The first is causation. That's the first hurdle, I think. will need to be overcome by the prosecution. And the second, obviously, is a subjective question about, well, what was Jacinta Druist intending when she was doing the things that may ultimately be alleged she was doing in the background? Speaker 2 (5:20) So they're the elements for murder. What about the elements of manslaughter or unlawful homicide? What are they, very briefly? Speaker 3 (5:26) Well, similar to murder, we need to have a death and we need to demonstrate causation. very similar to murder in that context, but we don't require the intention to kill or do very serious or grievous bodily harm. So that's the important distinction. There are various forms of manslaughter. There's one, for example, of negligence, that you have a duty of care and you fail to live up to that duty of care. But more commonly, I think, in these cases, it would be an unlawful and dangerous act. which is contributing to the homicide and that would be a manslaughter. So for example, in these cases, we would see criminal matters of coercive control or assault or stalking as the criminal act that underpins the manslaughter. Speaker 2 (6:06) So presumably if this goes to trial, there will be evidence of the events in question, but also the broader... dynamic in the relationship and how the couple spoke to each other and interacted? Speaker 3 (6:17) Absolutely. So the reason why this case is such an important one is what the prosecution look like they're trying to do is say that Jacinta Drust is responsible, criminally responsible, effectively, for his suicide, that she caused his suicide. Now, causation sounds really simple. Did someone do something and that caused the end result? It's actually much more complex than that. And the criminal law recognises from a very important case called Royale that there's potentially a number of potential tests for causation, but the most commonly used test in causation is significant contribution. So the question for the jury to be satisfied of beyond a reasonable doubt would be that Jacinta Drust... significantly contributed to the death of the victim or any accused person significantly contributed to the death of the victim. Now, normally it's not a big issue, causation. We see someone stab someone, they die. It's a really clear, direct line. The confusion here is the intervening factor because basically what we know about causation is that there's got to be a significant contribution, which means there can be other things contributing to the death. So that might