Category: Violence

Cambron sentenced to prison for killing of boy in Cherokee Park

Cambron pleaded guilty in April to manslaughter and tampering with evidence in connection with the case.

Cambron, 26, was supposed to stand trial for the murder of 12-year-old Ray Allen Etheridge, but this guilty plea avoided that. Upon conviction, Cambron could have been sentenced to life in prison.

Before handing down the sentence, the judge asked whether there was anything the defense wanted addressed. Cambron’s attorney asked that all pronouns in the paperwork be changed from “he” to “she,” because “Joey” Cambron identifies as a transgender female.

Source: Cambron sentenced to prison for killing of boy in Cherokee Park | News | wdrb.com

Violence that leaves no visible mark is a real threat to women

We know that police analysis of Setka’s phone activity reveals he called a woman 25 times on one night and sent her 45 text messages, calling her everything from a “treacherous Aussie f—en c—”, a “f—en dog” to a “weak f—en piece of shit”.

But there is other terrible correspondence. Of the 45 text messages, around half were photographs, some of which obliterated the woman’s face, others which showed her property being discarded.

Online abuse is still abuse. And maybe the case of John Setka will be a moment for the legal system to understand its extent and impact.

Source: Violence that leaves no visible mark is a real threat to women

‘It’s like you go to abuse school’: how domestic violence always follows the same script

In this extract from her book, See What You Made Me Do, Jess Hill traces the psychology of abusers and how they use the same techniques of oppression

Domestic abuse may be as old as intimacy, but we only really started to understand it after the first women’s refuges opened in the 1970s. When women in their thousands fled to these makeshift shelters, they weren’t just complaining about black eyes and raging tempers. They told stories of unfathomable cruelty and violence, and what sounded like orchestrated campaigns of control. It became clear that, although each woman’s story was individual, the overarching narratives were uncannily alike. As one shelter worker said at the time, “It got so I could finish a woman’s story halfway through it. There was this absolutely eerie feeling that these guys were sitting together and deciding what to say and do.”

Today, we know that that the techniques common to domestic abuse match those used by practically anyone who trades in captivity: kidnappers, hostage-takers, pimps, cult leaders. What this reveals is that there is nothing uniquely weak, helpless or masochistic about victims of domestic abuse. Faced with the universal methods of coercive control, their responses are no different from those of trained soldiers.

Source: ‘It’s like you go to abuse school’: how domestic violence always follows the same script | Society | The Guardian

Political violence against women is increasing worldwide, University of Texas researchers find

Womens’ increasing demands for equal rights have been met across the globe with widespread political violence, according to a new report by UT researchers.

Source: Political violence against women is increasing worldwide, UT researchers find | The Daily Texan

Political violence against women is increasing worldwide, University of Texas researchers find

Womens’ increasing demands for equal rights have been met across the globe with widespread political violence, according to a new report by UT researchers.

Source: Political violence against women is increasing worldwide, UT researchers find | The Daily Texan

If we took domestic violence seriously, Bourke St wouldn’t have happened.

Three months before James Gargasoulas would kill six people in Melbourne’s Bourke Street mall, he punched his girlfriend, who was 19 weeks pregnant, repeatedly in the face.

Just over two years before the Bourke Street mall terror attack, a man walked into a cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place.

But Monis wasn’t just any potential customer, walking in off the street. He had been charged with 43 counts of sexual assault. He had a history of domestic violence. He was accused of conspiring to murder his own wife.

But it’s not only the Bourke Street rampage and the Lindt cafe siege that point to a disturbing link between domestic violence and terrorism.

There’s the London Bridge attacks.

The attacks on the Charlie Hebdo offices.

The Manchester bombing.

The Pulse nightclub shooting.

The Parkland massacre.

The Sandy Hook shooting.

All instances where the perpetrator had a history (or alleged history) of violence against women. All instances where these men were nonetheless free to walk into schools, nightclubs, concerts and other public spaces, and commit acts of unimaginable evil.

Source: If we took domestic violence seriously, Bourke St wouldn’t have happened.

Sally Challen walks free: Abused wife who bludgeoned husband to death with hammer will not face jail

A mother who bludgeoned her abusive husband to death in a hammer attack has revealed that she “still loves him” after walking free from court.

Judges ruled that new evidence from a psychiatrist that she was suffering from two mental disorders at the time of the killing undermined the safety of her conviction.

Her murder conviction was quashed following a psychiatric report which concluded she was suffering from an “adjustment disorder” at the time of the killing, the lesser charge of manslaughter was yesterday accepted by the CPS.

Mrs Challen, a former Police Federation office manager, who has been on bail since April, has always denied murdering the car dealer, but was convicted following a trial and sentenced to 22 years behind bars. Her sentence was later reduced by four years on appeal.

Source: Sally Challen walks free: Abused wife who bludgeoned husband to death with hammer will not face jail

Feminist speaker Julie Bindel ‘attacked by transgender person’ at Edinburgh University after talk

A leading British feminist, who campaigns against violence towards women, has claimed that she was attacked in Edinburgh last night by a transgender person.

Source: Feminist speaker Julie Bindel ‘attacked by transgender person’ at Edinburgh University after talk – The Scotsman

How did it come to this? Kearah Ronan was locked up for being sick

A pregnant Aboriginal woman was arrested and locked up because she was too sick to attend a court hearing where she was set to give evidence against her former partner.

Kearah Ronan, the 2017 Miss NAIDOC winner, has revealed how she was left crying and humiliated when she was forced to spend a night in Perth Watch House after she was arrested for “failing to obey a witness summons” even though she had informed the court she was unwell.

The 26-year-old, who is six months pregnant, also had to strip naked in front of two female police officers after her arrest. Ms Ronan is the maternal cousin of Ms Dhu, a 22-year-old Aboriginal woman who died in police custody in 2014 from domestic violence injuries after she was arrested for unpaid fines.

urce: How did it come to this? Kearah Ronan was locked up for being sick | The West Australian