Anna Marshall On March 6, 2015 another woman using the “battered woman” defence walked free from an Australian court after being found guilty of the manslaughter of her former de-facto husband and father of her child. Although the jury found Jessica Silva guilty of the manslaughter of James Polkinghorne, the kindly Jessica Silva walks free from court James Polkinghorne – stabbed to death by Jessica Silva judge, NSW Supreme Court Justice Clifton Hoeben found that although she did not intend to kill Mr Polkinghorne, she did indeed intend to “cause him grievous bodily harm “, but nevertheless allowed her to walk from the court with just a good behaviour bond. Evidence was given that Polkinghorne was high on “ice” and making threats to Silva and was involved in an altercation with her father and brother on the street in front of her parent’s house when Silva went inside, grabbed a…
domestic violence
Women who kill get soft sentences from feminist-friendly judiciary Judge lets female child killer walk free Anna Marshall 14 July 2004 On August 4, 2003, New South Wales woman Daniela Dawes (pictured) forced her 10-year-old autistic son Jason’s mouth closed and pinched his nose until he stopped struggling. Daniela Dawes murdered her son, Jason and walked free from the court on a good behaviour bond. Jason Dawes – murdered by his mother Describing the killing on Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes program, Dawes said “He was playing. I, being in a depressed state, wasn’t really up for playing. And I remember he ran off and I know I followed him into the rumpus room and then it was just something that was all happening before my eyes. I had no control over what was happening that day”. After laying Jason’s body on his bed, she phoned work to say she…
Anna Marshall It was an offer he couldn’t refuse. Paul Snabel had been partying all night. In the early hours of the morning of November 11, 1989 his girlfriend Karen Randall phoned and said, meet me for sex. The sun was rising as Karen’s sister Donna picked up Paul Snable and drove him to a remote property in rural Victoria. He had no inkling that this was to be his last day on earth. For Paul Snabel was heading into a trap set by four murderous women. Irene Maslin Karen Randell Donna Randell Rhona Heaney Randall had wanted to permanently end the on-again off-again relationship with Paul Snabel but he was infatuated with her and kept phoning her and calling around. By October 1989, Randall didn’t want anything to do with her former lover. But he persisted and continued to phone her. It was a fatal mistake. Randall called a…
Susan Falls, who in 2010 provided a case study in how to legally kill your husband, has walked free from court again, this time after defrauding the Australian taxpayers of $78,284. Falls walked free from Southport (Queensland) Magistrates Court on an intensive supervision order after pleading guilty to ripping off Centrelink over five years when she claimed she was a single mother. Susan Falls But at the time she was living with her husband Rodney on the Sunshine Coast and the pair owned businesses, built a duplex and took a family holiday to Hawaii. Falls killed Mr Falls in 2006 when she drugged his dinner and shot him in the head. His body was later dumped in bushland and she reported him missing. At her trial, she claimed Mr Falls had subjected her to years of brutality and at the time she killed him, he had threatened to kill one…
By Anna Marshall On 4th March 2006, Claire Margaret McDonald gasped and burst into tears as a Victorian Supreme Court jury found her not guilty of the execution style murder of her husband, Warren John McDonald. The court was told that McDonald had donned camouflage gear and lay in wait with a high-powered rifle for her husband to approach. She fired six shots, mortally wounding her husband. McDonald successfully used the “battered woman syndrome” defence, claiming she had suffered years of abuse at the hands of her husband. Within days, Queensland woman, Susan Falls, having probably read the media reports of Heather McDonald’s stunning acquittal, decided to execute her allegedly abusive husband in the same fashion, in what prosecutors would describe as a cunning, calculated murder. Falls paid a friend, Anthony Cummings-Creed $5,000 to buy a 22.calibre pistol with silencer on the black market. Rodney and Susan Falls Christopher Cummins-Creed supplied…
The media constantly trumpet the radical feminist line that males are violent killers, responsible for the majority of domestic viiolence.The story of sadistic killer Katherine Mary Knight may redress this imbalance somewhat. On 29 February 2000, in what must truly be Australia’s most gruesome case of domestic violence, mother of four, Katherine Mary Knight cold-bloodedly prepared for the violent murder of her de facto husband, John Thomas Price, by sending the children away overnight. Then carefully selecting a sharpening steel and a long boning knife from her selection of butcher’s knives, Knight began honing the knife until it was razor sharp, in preparation for the grisly task ahead. During the day, John Price, reacting to death threats, had warned police and sought an Apprehended Violence Restraining Order against his wife, a person with a long history of domestic violence against previous partners. Her first marriage ended when first husband, David Kellet, fled in…