Neighbours Charlie Walters and Ernie Watson don’t like each other. One day Charlie is
outside mowing his own nature strip, and in order to keep the immediate area neat and
nice, he decides to mow the nature strip of his immediate neighbour Watson.
On seeing this, Watson walks outside onto his front lawn, and yells out to Walters to stop.
Walter’s cannot hear Watson and completes the job. In disgust, Watson picks up a pebble
and throws it at Walters, striking him in the head. Walters stumbles and falls over,
striking his head on the pavement. Being an epileptic, Walters goes into seizure, swallows
his tongue, and dies. The wife of Walters, later tells police that her husband was on
medication for epilepsy, but had kept everything in check over the last two years, and
consequently had not had a seizure in that time. When interviewed by the police, Watson
stated he threw one pebble at Walters, but only simply to gain his attention. He stated he
only meant to strike him in the back.
Discuss the liability of Watson to certain offences pursuant to Common Law and/or the
Crimes Act 1958.