This requires both intention to cause physical injury and wicked disregard to whether the victim lives or dies.
[7] The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, s.205 states that conviction of murder results in a sentence of life imprisonment.
[8] Voluntary culpable homicide is when the requirements of murder are satisfied, but the accused has a partial defence of either provocation or suffering from diminished responsibility.
s.51B(1) of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 provides that diminished responsibility means that a person who would otherwise be convicted of murder will be convicted of culpable homicide instead when, at the time, that person’s ability to determine or control their conduct was “substantially impaired by reason of abnormality of mind”.
[11] However, the provision made clear that voluntarily being under the influence of alcohol or drugs is not sufficient to be the basis for diminished responsibility.