R v Mkize

In R v Mkize, an important case in South [African criminal law], especially as it pertains to the defence of automatism, the accused was charged with the murder of his sister, whom he had stabbed to death. The court found, on a balance of probabilities, that he had suffered an attack known as "epileptic equivalent." He was therefore unconscious, without judgment or will or purpose or reasoning; the stabbing was a result of blind reflex activity. There was no intention to kill. The verdict, therefore, was "not guilty."