Oral Assessment :-
The contents of this Assessment are confidential You must not disclose discuss or express an opinion on the contents of this Assessment or your answer to it to any other person by any means.
Criminal Law Assignment
In particular you should note that you may not consult any member of The University of Law staff nor any other person on any aspect of the content of this Assessment. If you are in any doubt as to how to interpret any word or phrase in this Assessment you should decide for yourself which interpretation to adopt.
By starting this Assessment you are confirming that you are fit to sit in accordance with the Assessment Regulations.
Instructions to candidates :-
The oral assessment will be during the period indicated in your Assessment Time table. You will be given details of your oral assessment by your Campus Assessment Team.
The oral assessment will take the following form:
You have 10 minutes to make your presentation.
The examiner will stop you at 10 minutes if you have not already stopped.
The examiner will then have 10 minutes to ask you related questions.
You should not use visual aids although you are at liberty to use what ever aides memoire you feel you need.
Where questions are sub-divided candidates should not expect the sub divisions necessarily to be of equal weight.
Marks :-
This examination comprises 60% of your final module mark. This examination is itself marked out of 100%.
The other 40% of your module mark is derived from a separate 45-minute Single Best Answer Question-style examination.
There will not be a choice of question.
Assessment Criteria:
With the exception of SBAQ assessments all assessments on the PgDL and on the Conversion Component of both MA Law programmes will be marked according to the Assessment Criteria. These can be found in the Assessments area of the Handbook module on ELITE.
The Assessment Criteria are set out in the Schedule.
Criminal Law Assignment
ORAL PRESENTATION
Part A
Make an oral presentation on the following:
You are a trainee solicitor working for Derriman and Co, a criminal defence firm in Leicester. Your supervisor XXX, has been instructed by xxx in relation to an incident which took place yesterday.
She sends you the email Document 1 and the attachments (Documents 2-4) as set out below:
Document 1: Email from XXX
Document 2: Extracts from audibly recorded interview of xxx
Document 3: Statement of xxx
Document 4: Statement of xxx
You are required to read these and provide advice on Tunde’s criminal liability.
Document 1
Email
From: XXX
To: Trainee
Date: 6 th August 20XX
Matter: xxx
Dear Trainee
I attended the police station last night as duty solicitor for xxx who has been arrested and charged in relation to an incident which occurred yesterday. Tunde had already agreed to being inter viewed before I was contacted despite being told that he had the right to legal advice. As a consequence he made a number of admissions which is rather unfortunate.
Criminal Law Assignment
The police have sent us the attached transcript of the interview together with the statements which they took from the victims xxx and xxx Carey. You’ll also see from the interview that a further incident took place when Tunde was on the way home and the victim Hamza Parveen is in hospital. Could you advise me on this too please?
Criminal Law Assignment
I have arranged a meeting with Tunde tomorrow at HMP Leicester where he has been remanded in custody. Could you please read through the documents consider the evidence carefully and prepare to brief me on any possible offences that he may face and the availability of any defences.
Thank you.
XXX
Criminal Law Assignment
Document 1 :-
PARTICULARS OF INTERVIEW :-
NH: My name is Detective Constable Niall Halliday. As I’m sure you’re aware I am investigating the destruction of 27 Main Street by fire which took place yesterday evening – a serious incident. Please can you tell me what happened last night?
Criminal Law Assignment
TO: I don’t know what you mean.
NH: Well let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Do you know xxx Fisher?
TO: Yes I went to school with him. He used to be a friend of mine.
NH: What do you mean used to be?
TO: We fell out recently.
NH: What about?
TO: He’s a two-faced snake. He’s been after my girlfriend, Aretha, for a while – texting her and that so obviously I wasn’t happy. Then we had a proper fall out.
NH: Can you give me some more details about what you mean?
TO: Well we went to Stefan’s party and I saw him leering at Aretha. He was eyeing her up all evening but when I confronted him, he just sneered at me. He said he’d just been chatting to Aretha but I didn’t believe him. He made me look a right idiot in front of all my mates and I wasn’t having that.
Criminal Law Assignment
NH: Had you been drinking?
TO: Yeah I’d had quite a few beers and some vodkas. To be honest, I don’t remember much of the evening at all – it’s a bit of a blur.
NH: So what did you do next?
TO: I asked Aretha to come home with me, but she refused.
NH: Then what happened?
TO: Well I went back home, but the more I thought about it, the more angry I got. I knew they’d all be laughing at me! It’s important to be respected if you’re going to keep your mates.
NH: I can understand why xxx upset you but being upset is one thing setting fire to his house is another.
Criminal Law Assignment
TO: I just couldn’t get the whole thing out of my head. Then Aretha texted me to say she was sick of me and she was with xxx now. She taunted me by saying they’d gone back to her house after the party and had sex. I was gutted! I wasn’t going to stand for that!
NH: What did you do?
TO: I decided to give him a scare. I went back to xxx’s house. I crept up to his front door, set light to a piece of cloth and pushed it through the letter box. I saw flames through the glass panel but then I ran off.
NH: What time was this?
Criminal Law Assignment
TO: I’m not sure – about 5 in the morning.
NH: Did you see any lights in the house?
TO: No, it was all dark, so I assumed the party was over.
Criminal Law Assignment
NH: But you didn’t know this did you? In fact, xxx and xxx were still there – they’d fallen asleep upstairs. They only managed to escape because a neighbour saw smoke and called the fire service. It was lucky no-one was injured.
TO: Well how was I supposed to know that? Aretha told me they were at her house and I know that xxx’s mum is on holiday.
NH: But you didn’t check did you? People often stay over after a party so you couldn’t have been sure the house was empty could you?
TO: No but I would never have put the cloth through the door if I’d thought anyone was there. I just wanted to scare xxx, that was all.
Criminal Law Assignment
NH: OK – I think that’s enough on that incident for now. There’s another matter we need to discuss. You were actually arrested because the police were called to your neighbour’s house. Apparently you smashed their front window. Would you like to explain why?
Criminal Law Assignment
TO: I was on the way home when I saw their cat yowling. I’m an animal lover and I knew the neighbours had gone to visit their parents for a week. It looked distressed so I broke the window to feed it.
NH: In fact the cat was fine as the neighbours had someone house-sitting – a man named Hamza Parveen. Didn’t you think to check?
TO: No to be honest I was pretty drunk still but I genuinely thought the cat needed rescuing and I knew the neighbours wouldn’t have wanted it to starve as they love it. I feel a bit of an idiot now but it seemed the right thing to do at the time.
Criminal Law Assignment
NH: Then when the house-sitter (Hamza Parveen) came downstairs into the kitchen you reacted by hitting him over the head with a brick, fracturing his skull. He’s in a coma now in hospital and may have life-changing injuries.
TO : I know – I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid. I panicked. I only meant to hurt him but not seriously. As soon as I realised what I’d done, I was horrified.
NH: Okay I’m concluding this interview at 15.22 and turning off the tape recording.
INTERVIEW BROUGHT TO A CLOSE.
Criminal Law Assignment