Dean has a psychiatric condition which sometimes causes him to experience delusions. One day, due to his condition he develops a belief that everyone around him finds him sexually irresistible. In the staffroom at his workplace, he notices his colleague Lacey looking at him and is certain that she wants to have sex with him. He walks up to her and starts fondling her breasts. Lacey is stunned and she freezes in panic until Dean stops touching her and leaves the room. Lacey then bursts into tears.
A few minutes later Lacey’s boss, Clive, comes into the staffroom and finds her in tears. Clive asks Lacey what is wrong, and she tells him what happened with Dean. Clive puts his arm around Lacey to comfort her. However, Lacey thinks he is doing it because he is attracted to her, and she screams at him not to touch her and runs out.
Lacey is extremely distressed by these events. The following day at work, whilst in a dream-like state, she goes into the staffroom and smashes all the coffee cups belonging to her colleagues. A psychiatrist diagnoses Lacey with post-traumatic stress disorder and states that this caused her to be in a dissociative state when she smashed the cups, such that she had not been acting with a conscious mind or will.
Discuss the criminal liability of Dean, Clive and Lacey.
