Table 2.
Case | Complete or partial1 | % missing2 | Amnesic gap |
---|---|---|---|
2 | Complete | 100 | Cannot recall kicking victim in head several times (out of character). Recalls co-defendant throwing victim, then no memory. |
4 | Partial | 35 | Cannot recall jumping on victim's chest or other people fighting. Hit on head with plastic piping, knocked out briefly. Patchy memory loss. |
9 | Partial | 10 | Can recall all of assault except for the second of two punches he landed, confirmed on CCTV. One small, clear gap. |
13 | Partial | 75 | Can only recall one of several stab wounds inflicted on victim. Cannot recall family of victim being present. Only has ‘two pictures’ of assault. |
15 | Partial | 20 | Cannot recall slashing victim with knife dropped by victim but can remember chasing him. Remembers jogging away afterwards. |
25 | Partial | 80–90 | Cannot recall most of assault (punched and kicked victim). Recalls walking towards victim; next recall is putting rope around neck at end. |
27 | Partial | 20–30 | Cannot recall stabbing victim. Can remember confronting him and then recalls victim holding neck on ground. Cannot recall next one to two hours. |
35 | Partial | 40 | Cannot remember threatening victim, getting knife from home, climbing into house, or stabbing the victim several times. |
41 | Partial | 50 | Can recall punching victim, then clear gap until stamping on his head. Estimated several minutes missing of assaultative behaviour |
45 | Partial | 50 | Cannot recall knife being put in his hand, stabbing victim several times, or any noises from the assault (‘felt like I went deaf’). |
46 | Partial | 50 | Cannot recall kicking victim, chasing him, rolling around on ground, giving him ‘verbals’, or spitting on him. Patchy recall of being violent. |
47 | Partial | 50 | Remembers being hit by victim, then gap until seeing victim on ground. Cannot remember stabbing him with bottle in head, or later behaviour. |
48 | Partial | 30 | Remembers confronting victim. Cannot recall jumping around or stabbing him in face. ‘Seeing red … blanked out for about one minute.’ |
54 | Partial | 20 | Has patchy recall of assaulting victim in a pub. Cannot recall how many times he was taken out of pub and went back in. |
59 | Partial | 90 | Recalls argument with victim and punching him, but cannot recall then attacking him with a knife. Clear gap until he saw victim lying on floor. |
68 | Partial | 50 | Patchy recall of extended fight between victim and respondent and his co-defendant. Can only recall a only few of multiple stab wounds caused. |
76 | Partial | 50 | Can recall striking victim on head with bar, but not then punching and kicking him in the head and threats to kill. Recalls arrest. |
89 | Partial | 40-50 | Recalls punching victim in the face, then dense memory gap until he came around with victim lying unconscious in his lap, stabbed twice. |
96 | Partial | 70 | No recall of first stabbing; then can recall first stabs but not the next several. Cannot recall where he threw the knife or getting home. |
98 | Partial | Unsure | Recalls holding victim with rope and stabbing first few times, but not the next several times. ‘Blackout’ until he saw victim dead on floor. |
101 | Partial | Unsure | Can recall hitting victim with bottle on head but cannot recall stabbing him in face several times. Can remember being arrested. |
1As judged by the interviewer: any recall of assaultative behaviour indicated that the amnesia was partial;
2Percentage missing of the actual assault, as estimated by the participant on the basis of their knowledge of their own assaultative behaviour from third-party information, including witnesses and medico-legal information.