Brenda is a freelance graphic designer who works from home but was finding it hard to focus on her work with her daughter also at home all day while the schools were closed under COVID regulations. One morning Brenda accompanies her daughter to her school. Brenda persuaded the teacher at the school gate to take her daughter for the day, telling him untruthfully that she was a key worker, an intensive care nurse working nights, but had been too stressed to tell the school sooner.
The next day Brenda received an e-mail confirming her daughter could attend school daily as the daughter of a key worker—for which no payment was required, it being a state school. Moreover, Brenda’s daughter could also attend the after school club for two hours a day, for which payment was usually required, but was being waived for the children of key workers during the COVID period, the only children permitted to attend. This came as a pleasant surprise to Brenda who did not know the after school club was running at all in the COVID period. Brenda’s daughter attended both regular school and the after school club for nearly a month until her mother’s deception was discovered. Brenda’s near neighbour Dev has often worked as a ‘personal driver’ for Boss, a gang member with a reputation for violence towards those who cross him.
Dev had indeed completed a prison sentence four years earlier for keeping lookout and driving Boss away after the latter had committed armed robbery. Boss has now also finally completed his prison sentence and threw a party at his house to celebrate his release. Dev, on leaving the party, made the mistake of smuggling out Boss’s prized Samurai sword. Dev only meant to take the sword for a little while and then return it to Boss in front of an audience for a laugh. The trouble was Boss immediately took the loss of the sword extremely badly and ever since has repeatedly vowed to kill whoever took it when he finds out who that is. Dev hid the sword at home in the hope Boss would one day stop the threats so he could return the sword safely.
Discuss the criminal liability of Brenda, Dev and Masatoshi.
