Monday, August 21, 2006

Ouch

A murder took place in my local area recently. The man charged with the murder had been arrested on a weekend day for a matter of domestic violence. He was then interviewed, he made full admissions, and then it was decided that it was appropriate to caution him for the assault and release him. The man then went home and killed his wife.

The reality is that whoever the unfortunate soul was within the Police who authorised this man to be cautioned cannot be criticised. I would imagine that if the man had been legally represented the solicitor would have pushed for a caution, and the Police would have probably been satisfied to give a caution provided that there had been no previous incidents of domestic violence and the man appeared to show some remorse.

12 comments:

Gavin Whenman said...

There's no way (unless they knew the man was seriously unhinged) the officers could have seen that coming.

Helen Sparkles said...

It is a common story in DV cases; victims eventually leave (on average) after an average of 33 incidents, the final not necessarily being the most serious. It is impossible to predict when someone will seriously injure their partner, it is just vital that the victims are fully informed about their options; refuges and agencies which offer support, and the police are often the front line agency to supply that information.

Anonymous said...

I've been convinced (or brainwashed - depends on how you see it) by recent training for magistrates. I view now domestic violence in a new light and would usually seek a full PSR fr such matters. How the police can decide on a caution on limited information is beyond me. No criticism of the individual officer, though.

Anonymous said...

Well, obviously SOMEONE made a mistake, at the very least making a bad judgment of character. However, with very little information given by the blogger, it's hard to say where mistakes happened.

Gavin said...

There is little further information I can provide at this stage.

As other people have pointed out although there is always a potential for these kind of things to happen, people cautioned for offences of domestic violence rarely go home the next day and kill their spouse. there are of course cases where domestic violence leads to a death.

The decision to caution this man cannot be criticised. Human beings are unpredictable.

Anonymous said...

Something people are forgetting here is the wife's role. Did she intend to press charges? More often than not they don't. As one who works in family law I can't begin to tell you how many times women come to me, say they don't want to press charges but still want an injunction. It's always, "I don't want to put him in jail, I just want him to leave me alone." Unfortunately they miss the point completely. This isn't to say the wife in this situation has any blame for her own murder. Just pointing out there's more to it than just what the police decide to do.

Tim said...

Working with DV perpetrators is, in my opinion, one of the most soul-destroying parts of being a probation officer because of the near-total denial that many of them exhibit. As Elle says, there is more to the situation than what the police decide to do, because they're often driven by what the victim wants, which is a terrible position for anyone to be put in. Not only does it force the victim to make a choice about what happens to a person with whom they have an emotional history (at the very least, and more often still have feelings for, or children involved and so on), but it personalises that decision, so that when the perpetrator is prosecuted, it's only a short step for them to develop a persecution complex that their (ex-)partner is to blame for their predicament. This will only stop when it becomes very clear that decisions to prosecute will take place regardless of the victim's wishes and based on the evidence that the police have. This does happen in some parts of the country, but not everywhere.

That said, I have every sympathy for the officer involved - a terrible thing to happen, but not one that could really have been predicted.

Helen Sparkles said...

Not about this post but a Daily Mail story - sorry. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=401840&in_page_id=1773 Can Mr Loophole really get Caprice off? I looked up the antibiotics she is taking and alcohol wasn't contraindicated but he managed it with Alex Ferguson's funny tummy! You probably have other things to write about but I would be interested to know what you think.

Helen Sparkles said...

Hi,
I have just linked and hope that's ok with you, I am unsure of blog-etiquette.
Bfn

Anonymous said...

I was rather under the impression that cautions were no longer used in DV cases. That's certainly what I've been told by officers and I've not come across a caution in a DV case for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Do you ever feel like beating up a police officer?

Unknown said...

Good to know about the thought

Habika

Law Society Find A Solicitor