homicide by firearm

This is a new offence which has been created in Victoria. It makes a person who kills another with a firearm but is not convicted of murder nonetheless liable for 25 years in prison. At the same time the Victorian Government increased the maximum penalty for manslaughter to 25 years in prison.

 It was felt necessary because there were too many cases in which the person who had shot someone, usually their female partner, was able to claim that they had no intent to kill and therefore got a lesser sentence, even though there was a strong suspicion that they had every intention of shooting to kill.