R v Wang - [1990] 2 NZLR 529

Criminal law — Defences — Self-defence — Manslaughter — Husband threatened to kill his wife and then fell into a drunken sleep — While he was asleep, wife stabbed and killed him — At the trial wife pleaded self-defence but Judge refused to put self-defence to the jury — Whether there was any immediacy to the threat to kill — Whether the defence of self-defence should have been put to the jury — Crimes Act 1961, s 48.

Criminal law — Sentence — Manslaughter — Husband threatened to kill his wife and then fell into a drunken sleep — While he was asleep, wife stabbed and killed him — She was 35 years old, with an infant son, and was a first offender — Whether a sentence of five years imprisonment for manslaughter was excessive.