Can an accused be found guilty of manslaughter as a party under s. 21(1) or (2) of the Criminal Code?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Ma, 2009 ONCJ 754 (CanLII):

[96] It is open to a jury to convict an accused of manslaughter as a party under s. 21(1) or (2) although the principal offender can be responsible for murder. A person may be convicted of manslaughter who aids and abets another person in the offence of murder , where a reasonable person in all of the circumstances would have appreciated that bodily harm was the foreseeable consequence of the dangerous act which was being undertaken but the party did not have the mental state required for murder. An accused could also be convicted of manslaughter as a party under s. 21(2) of the Criminal Code notwithstanding that the principal offender was responsible for murder. A conviction for manslaughter under s. 21(2) does not require foreseeability of death, but only foreseeability of harm, which in fact results in death. In this case, even if an accused did not participate in the murder, he could be liable under s. 21(2), having formed a common intention to assault or rob the deceased. If an accused can forsee that murder was a probable consequence of carrying out the common purpose, he would be guilty of second degree murder, on the other hand, if the accused did not foresee the probability of murder but a reasonable person in all of the circumstances would have foreseen at least a risk of harm to another as a result of carrying out the common intention, the accused could be found guilty of manslaughter under s. 21(2). ( Regina v. Davy 1993 CanLII 53 (SCC), 86 C.C.C. (3d) 385)

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