You could....

Frankenstein! you belong then to my enemy—to him towards whom I have sworn eternal revenge; you shall be my first victim.’

The child still struggled and loaded me with epithets which carried despair to my heart; I grasped his throat to silence him, and in a moment he lay dead at my feet.

I gazed on my victim, and my heart swelled with exultation and hellish triumph; clapping my hands, I exclaimed, ‘I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him

...but I didn't read it that as an accident. Imagine using that defense in a courtroom: "I wasn't trying to kill the child, I was trying to kidnap him for revenge. I killed him by accident when choking him to silence him." Especially given the physical mismatch of a huge heavyweight versus a tiny child.

As I said earlier, "I think the problem is the students are giving too much credence to the monster’s monologues"

Ok, but to be fair, how many of us haven't killed at least four people.