Monday, October 10, 2005

Battered wives' syndrome

A woman whose verbally abusive husband 'impaled' himself on an 8 1/2" knife she was holding has been given a three-year community rehabilitation order for his manslaughter. If the roles had been reversed, would feminists have accepted the sentence?

"Battered wives' syndrome" suggests that to some extent the husband deserved his fate. Is this the message courts want to give? Why was a court so willing to accept the defendant's testimony when the husband was clearly unable to defend himself?.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe she was given an easy time in court because she was an "avid" Cliff Richard fan.

Laban said...

Ever since that mad woman Sara Thornton was released it's become apparent that if you want to top the old man, shout 'domestic violence' and you've got an even chance of walking free. I'd love to know what evidence was presented to the court.