What is the burden of establishing that the accused had the required intent to kill?

Alberta, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Wright, 1979 ALTASCAD 187 (CanLII):

It follows from the statement of Viscount Sankey, L.C. in Woolmington v. D.P.P. (1935) A.C. 462 at 481, that the presumption of innocence casts the burden on the Crown of establishing that an accused had the requisite intent at the material time: "Throughout the web of the English Criminal Law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt subject to what I have already said as to the defence of insanity and subject also to any statutory exception. If, at the end of and on the whole of the case, there is a reasonable doubt, created by the evidence given by either the prosecution or the prisoner, as to whether the prisoner killed the deceased with a malicious intention, the prosecution has not made out the case and the prisoner is entitled to an acquittal." In the present context, I would substitute the words "requisite intention" for the words "malicious intention."

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