Zoe Brown and Carlo Miller are in a relationship and have lived together for 15 years. They have a 13-year-old son named Jack. At the start of the relationship, Zoe was happy, and Carlo would buy her presents and treat her well. However, after Jack was born things changed. Carlo persuaded Zoe to give up her job as a nurse, saying he preferred her to stay at home full time and care for Jack. He also said that he would pay for everything, but then only gave Zoe a very small allowance each week to buy food and essentials. Over time, Carlo also persuaded Zoe to stop communicating with her friends as he thought that they were a bad influence on her. Although Zoe always enjoyed watching her favourite programmes in the evening, Carlo began monitoring the amount of time she could watch TV every night, saying the programmes she enjoyed were also a bad influence. While Carlo never used physical violence against Zoe, over the years he became more and more quick to anger, and prone to outbursts, telling Zoe she was worthless and putting her down. This affected Zoe's confidence, and she became unable to bring herself to leave the house.

In recent months Carlo also began stopping Zoe's parents from visiting the house. One day, Zoe's father, Lewis, called to the house demanding to see Zoe and Jack. Carlo answered the door to Lewis, but he would not allow him into the house. He shouted at Lewis to leave and when he did not, he punched Lewis in the face. Lewis fell backwards hitting his head off the ground. He suffered a cut lip that required stitches and a fractured jaw. Zoe, in despair, called the police seeking help.

Before our meeting, you should prepare by doing the following:

Question 1

Write a full answer using IRAC to advise whether Carlo is liable under s76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 in relation to his behaviour towards Zoe and whether he is liable under s18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 in relation to his behaviour towards Lewis.

(70 marks)

2000 words