The appellants were standing on the parapet of a bridge crossing a railway line. As an oncoming train approached the bridge the appellants, acting together, pushed a piece of paving stone over the parapet on to the front part of the approaching train. The stone crashed through the glass window of the train driver’s cab, striking the guard and killing him. The appellants were both charged with and convicted of manslaughter. They appealed on the ground that the trial judge had failed to direct the jury that they should acquit the appellants unless they were satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellants had foreseen that they might cause harm by pushing the piece of stone off the parapet.
Held – An accused was guilty of manslaughter if it were proved that he had intentionally done an act which was unlawful and dangerous and that the act had inadvertently caused death. It was not necessary for the prosecution to prove that the accused knew that the act was unlawful or dangerous. In judging whether an act of the accused was dangerous, the test was not whether the accused himself recognised the act to be dangerous but whether sober and reasonable people would recognise its danger. Accordingly the appeals would be dismissed.