Thelma lives in a student flat with three other students who all share the kitchen. Thelma is becoming increasingly annoyed by the fact that someone else in the flat has been taking her food without asking, and she decides to teach this person a lesson. She grates ten laxative pills and mixes them into a new packet of muesli before placing the packet in a kitchen cupboard. She supposes that whoever eats the muesli might suffer some pain and discomfort, but hopes that it will not lead to anything too serious.
Louise, one of Thelma’s flat-mates, helps herself to a bowl of Thelma’s muesli. Louise quickly develops diarrhoea, and since she suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, her symptoms are particularly severe. Louise’s other flat-mates, Alex and Brad, start to become worried about her after she continues to be violently ill and is unable to attend University to submit her coursework. Thelma resolves not to help Louise, since she thinks she has got what she deserves, and refuses to get involved when Alex and Brad suggest that they call a doctor. Alex and Brad decide that if Thelma cannot be bothered to get involved then neither can they, since they are not even on the same course as Louise and hardly know her. Eventually, three days after ingesting the pills, Louise speaks to her mother on the phone. Louise’s mother is so worried that she calls an ambulance which takes Louise to hospital. After a further week in hospital Louise recovers, but her Irritable Bowel Syndrome is aggravated by the episode and she is left having to take medication to control the condition for the foreseeable future. The doctors suggest that had Louise received treatment when she first became ill, she would have suffered no long-term ill-effects.
Discuss the criminal liability of Thelma, Alex and Brad.