Sef Gonzales Report

The law is both effective and ineffective throughout the entire criminal process in achieving justice in the murder case involving Sef Gonzales. The case “Regina vs Gonzales (2004) NSW SC 822” involved the triple murders of Gonzales’s mother, father and only sister The meaning of justice is that everyone is treated equally and fairly under the law. The law was effective in this case because justice was achieved, for the accused, for the victims and for society. Former Sydney student Sef Gonzales has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the triple murder of his parents, solicitor Ted Gonzales, Mary Loiva Gonzales and then 18-year old sister Clodine in their North Ryde home in Sydney’s north-west on July 10, 2001.Clodine Gonzales was the prisoner’s sister and his only sibling. She had had her eighteenth birthday on 9 July 2001, the day before the murders. Mary Loiva Josephine Gonzales was the prisoner’s mother and Teddy Gonzales was the prisoner’s father.
In order for a crime to occur, both elements of the crime, Actus Reus and mens rea must be present. Actus Reus and mens rea are legal terms used to define a crime. Both elements must be present for an accused to be found guilty of a crime (except for strict liability). Mens rea means that the person must have had a guilty mind at the time of committing the crime- that is they must have intended to commit the crime.
According to this case, both elements were present. Mens rea occurred when Gonzales had planned the killing for a long time and also had the intention to kill each of the victims and had actually administered poison to his mother Actus reus was the actions of the accused which occurred in this case when Gonzales did the physical act of murdering his mother, sister and father. He killed the victims by stabbing them with a knife or, in the case of Clodine, striking her with a bat and strangling her, as well as stabbing her with a knife. There was a high degree of violence in all of the murders. The law