Words fail me—Domestic abuse goes unpunished

[matgb]

Executive who branded wife with iron freed with a £2,000 fine:

A report recommended a community service order, but Recorder William Featherby questioned how Read would fit it in around his long working hours.

He said he was concerned that Read had denied the offences despite overwhelming evidence and he called the iron attack "appalling".

But the judge said it was the circumstances of the marriage that had provoked Read and that now those circumstances had gone, sending him to prison would "help no one".

So branding your wife with a hot iron isn't worthy of punishment in and of itself? A £2K fine (about a weeks pay for this guy) is going to sort it all out?

Prison has three functions: Punish, protect and rehabilitate. This guy seems barely able to acknowledge he's done wrong, but because he has a busy job he can just pay it off?

Judith Stephenson, of Women's Aid, said: "This case is extremely worrying. It takes an enormous amount of courage for a woman to go to court and this sentence may deter other women from doing so."

That people (predominantly but not exclusively women) become trapped in abusive relationships and feel they can't get out is something I can't relate to, can't understand. But I know it happens, and it has happened to people I like and respect. To have the court system then effectively dismiss it out of hand is horrifying.

Via Katy at The Devil's Kitchen.

Comments

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

Bah, I'm being an arse; he got found guilty of 3 counts of ABH.

[matgb]

Aye, I thought it had been covered in the report, I was going to re-look.

Worth observing that Katy (who I got the link from) is a barrister in her day job, and she's not prone to go direct for scare stories, her write up is rather good.

One thing I didn't really stress on my write up is a gut reaction that he was let off lightly given his background/education and job—I suspect if a building site labourer had done similar he'd have been straight to jail; no evidence, just a gut reaction.

It is the Mail though, and I haven't searched elsewhere for more (yet), I might do later.

[pmoodie.livejournal.com]

One thing I didn't really stress on my write up is a gut reaction that he was let off lightly given his background/education and job—I suspect if a building site labourer had done similar he'd have been straight to jail; no evidence, just a gut reaction.

I thought the same thing myself. I wonder if the judge might also have been a Cambridge man? But I didn't mention it because I thought it might look like Scottish prejudice!

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

Whilst I'm spamming your comments, I may as well finish what I started! The starting point for an non-premeditated ABH assault resulting in no permanent injuries (presumably the case here) is 12 weeks in prison. That can be mitigated down though; first offence, guilty plea, not falling under the "dangerous offender" category etc. Not saying that any/all those apply here, obv.

That said, the bottom end of the range is supposed to be a community sentence. Sentencing guidelines are here:

http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/docs/Assaultandotheroffences%20ConsultationguidelineFINAL-2007-06-21-JS.pdf

should you fancy a fairly dull read ;)

More generally, it's a strange one. I can't help feeling there's more to it than meets the eye though. For starters, cutting someone with a knife should be a straight GBH with a weapon charge - that's an instant 12-24 month sentence on its own. The fact this is apparently so far out of kilter makes it either amazingly wrong (possible) or we don't have the full facts as to how the case went.

I dealt with lots of cases where battered wives withdrew their police statements, and it's a nightmare; incredibly frustrating for the police, CPS and the courts.

Background definitely helps though, you're right. Not necessarily in an "old boys network" way though - educated people are much better at a) not dropping themselves in it, and b) saying the right things at the right time. Hell, even turning up to court in a suit makes a big difference IMO.

[matgb]

Whilst I'm spamming your comments, I may as well finish what I started!

Pah! My friends list is best defined as "a bunch of smart people I can share ideas with and learn from", you know a lot more than me on this stuff, it wouldn't even have occured to me to look at sentencing guidelines let alone where they'd be.

So thank you. You're right, there must be circumstances the media scare story hasn't covered, but regardless I'm not happy he's been let off as lightly.

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

No, on that we can definitely agree. Presuming it's as reported, I find that absolutely appalling.

No need for thanks! I got out the habit of posting a bit recently, but I've still been really enjoying your blog. As oyu say, sharing ideas is where it's at :)