Domestic Abuse-Induced Suicide: An Issue of Causation

It is estimated that three women every week take their own lives through domestic abuse-induced suicide, with the actual number thought to be much higher. The Crown Prosecution Service has pledged to bring more charges for manslaughter in these circumstances, but as yet successful prosecution has appeared unattainable. This article discusses the charges of assisting or encouraging suicide, and manslaughter, with a focus on unlawful act manslaughter. The case of Wellings is used as a lens to examine the obstacles that the law of causation provides in achieving a successful conviction. From a critical analysis of case precedent, it is concluded that the addition of a requirement that the victim's actions, in committing suicide in response to the abuse, are reasonably foreseeable is doctrinally unfounded and unnecessary in the majority of cases.