The Case of Arnold

Arnold, a 17-year-old boy, decides one day to break into a local abandoned hotel. The owners moved out several years previously to new premises and secured the premises before they left. In order to enter the warehouse, Arnold has to remove a heavy metal grill using some tools.

After living in the abandoned hotel for a few days, Arnold has had a chance to explore the warehouse thoroughly, noticing that the back balcony attached to the rear of the warehouse is rusted and rickety.

Arnold decides to host an illegal party and invites a number of local teenagers to it.

The party is in full swing when one of Arnold's friends, Kyle, decides to go out for a smoke. He is on the upper level of the abandoned hotel and sees the door to the back balcony. He walks onto it, and under his weight it collapses. He falls from some 10ft, and breaks his leg. His friends cart him off to hospital.

Arnold finds it annoying to have to walk all the way through the warehouse to get to the upper level, and tells another friend, Erika, that there are some old wooden ladders lying about next to the warehouse. Arnold has tried to use one of these ladders once before despite them being chained up and labelled with a large sign 'do not use - for waste only.' Arnold broke the chain, discarded the sign, and tried to use one of the ladders - it broke under his weight. Erika sets up the ladder where the balcony used to be, but whilst climbing up the ladder breaks, and Erika falls, breaking her arm. Having just arrived back from taking Kyle to hospital, Erika too, is taken away.

Outside of the hotel is a large pit, used to dispose of industrial waste. It is unfenced and not signposted. In an effort to take the perfect selfie, another partygoer, Kenneth, steps backwards and falls over the edge, he dies from the fall, but nobody discovers him until the day afterwards.

Having not heard from Kenneth the day after, his parents eventually call the police, who discover his body in the waste pit after investigating his whereabouts. The police note in their report that they have seen teenagers hanging around near the pit before - it is a popular meeting place. They have spoken to the owners about repairing the external fence to stop these gatherings from occurring, but nothing has come of it.

Questions

1. Who would you identify as the occupier in this case?
2. What were the responsibilities of the Occupier ?
3. How would you describe Arnolds role in this case?
4. Who can be held responsible for the injuries which occurred to each person in the case? Or why not. Write each person on a separate line