Imagine if Te Pati Maori party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, rose in Parliament and shouted, “one and one make two”. Immediately Speaker Gerry Brownlie and say three other MPS have heart attacks and drop dead.
Here’s the issue
Could Debbie then be charged with manslaughter, if not indeed murder, given that her “one and one make two” assertion would be her first ever factual parliamentary utterance?
A prosecutor could readily make the case of gross negligence by her saying something truthful and not mythical, as with her usual nonsense, and that she had a duty of care to continue talking crap and should have anticipated the risk.
It’s no different in principle of say allowing someone to do something highly risky, such as operating a machine for which they have no proper training. A death results and a negligence causing death prosecution duly eventuates. This is a common occurrence.
A prosecutor could reasonably argue that Debbie should have given say a day’s written notice of her intention to say something sensible and correct, thus softening by such forewarning, the massive shock this would cause.
It’s certainly a tricky one and doubtless readers will have opinions on it.