Question
oseph and Greta have been married for over 20 years. From the outset, their marriage was not particularly good as they had always argued. Joseph
oseph and Greta have been married for over 20 years. From the outset, their marriage was not particularly good as they had always argued. Joseph and Greta separated six months ago and Greta moved out of the matrimonial home and moved in with her parents. Greta recently filed for divorce. One day, Joseph arrived at Greta's parent's house unannounced, pounded on the door, and demanded entry. Greta told him to go away as she did not want to speak with him. Being determined to enter the house, Joseph went around to the back as he remembered that the back patio door was always open. After a heated argument inside the kitchen, Joseph, while staring Greta in the eye, took up a watermelon from the kitchen counter, took a knife from a kitchen drawer, and stabbed / cut up the watermelon. When Greta attempted to reach for the phone to call the police, Joseph cut the cord. After several minutes, Joseph smashed the watermelon onto the floor, slowly wiped the knife clean on a piece of cloth and left the house. As Joseph was leaving, he said: "Unless you cancel the divorce and move back home, the same thing could happen to you. I want you to think carefully about that!"
Later that night, Greta was at home when she heard someone around the back of the house trying to open the patio door. Thinking that it was Joseph trying to come back in, Greta took up a baseball bat and went into the kitchen in the dark. When the person entered the house, Greta hit the person with the baseball bat three times. It was not Joseph but rather, Wallachi, the tenant who lived downstairs in the basement apartment and who sometimes used the back patio to enter into his apartment. Wallachi suffered serious injuries including a fractured collarbone and a concussion. Emergency services were called and the police responded.
During the police investigation, Joseph was contacted by detectives and asked if he was aware of any reason why Greta would have wanted to hurt Wallachi. By this point, Joseph had started to date Janine and had decided that he no longer wanted to be with Greta. Thinking that it would be easier to eventually marry Janine if Greta was out of the picture for good, Joseph told the detectives that Greta had told him that she hated Wallachi because he was a foreigner and wanted him to go back to his own country. This was not true. Based upon Joseph's statement, Greta was arrested and charged for a hate crime. The case attracted a lot of media attention and the trial was broadcast on live television. During the trial, Joseph gave testimony which was consistent with what he had told the police. Greta was convicted and sentenced to probation and a fine.
The Monday after the trial, Greta got a call from her boss advising her that her employment was being terminated as the company had no place for racists. Greta's parents also noticed that their lifelong friends had cut them off. Her parents who had spent all their lives trying to be social climbers were also kicked out of their country club. The stress was so much that Greta's mother, Veronika, who everyone in the family knew had suffered from mental illness for years, suffered a psychological breakdown and had to be hospitalised for months in a psychiatric ward.
Fortunately, Greta retained a fantastic lawyer, Fatemeh, who argued her case on appeal. The Court of Appeal accepted Fatemeh's argument that the conviction was flawed and the Court of Appeal set aside Greta's conviction. The prosecution decided not to seek a new trial against Greta.
identify the various torts and all of the torts related issues that arise in this question and discuss them fully. In particular you are required to indicate the persons or persons who can sue for damages, the person or persons who can be sued and the torts which form the basis of this liability.
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