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Archive for May 2012

May
29

Stacey Clarke

by Jean Calder
Nearly Died 26th May 2012

Stacey Clarke (23) was rushed to hospital on 26th May 2012 after being attacked in a flat in Northgate Parade, Crawley. She suffered life-threatening injuries when she was stabbed four times in the neck and upper body. At the time she was 6 months pregnant.

Shahid Mahmood (25) a labourer, from The Parade, Northgate, Crawley, West Sussex, appeared at Mid Sussex Magistrates’ Court charged with attempted murder. Mahmood was due to enter a plea at Lewes Crown Court on 3rd August 2012, but the case was adjourned until 5th September to the same court. Ms Clarke’s baby is due about that time.

After the attack, Ms Clarke was taken to the intensive care unit at St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, where she underwent an operation. Her baby survived. A police source said it was “remarkable” that the baby was alive and “developing as expected”. Ms Clarke already has a daughter.

Ms Clarke’s father Gordon, who lives in Black Dog Walk, Crawley, described the attack on his daughter as “attempted murder.” After the attack, one of her friends said: “She is pregnant and we are all now thinking of her. She is a lovely girl.” Another woman added: “I heard that a blonde girl had been stabbed and I thought ‘I bet that is Stacey’. I think she was due on September 2. She was excited about the baby. She is a nice girl.”

A Sussex Police spokesperson said they had been called to the incident by ambulance staff. He said: “Police were called on Saturday to an address in Northgate Parade. A female was found to have been seriously injured. Shortly afterwards at 4am on Saturday a man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.”

At the time, police said the attack was an isolated incident and other people did not need to be worried.

Note: This report was drawn from The Argus, Brighton & Hove. First written in May it was updated on 6th August 2012.

FOD Note: For Our Daughters notes that police statements such as the one above which  suggest that such incidents are “isolated” and that “people” need not be worried, are inappropriate. They offer little comfort to the many women and children who either witness, or are the target of, domestic assault, stalking and threats of lethal violence.  We hope that over time the police and the media will begin to report alleged offences of violence with greater sensitivity to the actual levels of risk to women and girls.

 

0 Categories : Attempted Murder / Aggravated Assault, Domestic Violence, Media Coverage
May
28

Deborah Morris

by Jean Calder
Died 25th May 2012

Deborah Morris (51) was found dead on 25th May 2012 at an address in St John’s Road, Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. She had suffered multiple stab wounds.

Ms Morris’ husband, Rory Morris (53) of St John’s Road, appeared before magistrates in Newport charged with her murder. He was remanded in custody and is due to appear at Winchester Crown Court.

A family statement described Ms Morris as “a caring, loving, giving and devoted mother, grandma, daughter, wife and friend”.

Note: This report was drawn from the BBC.

0 Categories : Deaths in 2012, Domestic killing, In Memorium
May
28

Claire Warrener

by Jean Calder
Died by Suicide December 2011

Claire Warrener (20) killed herself in December 2011. Just a few months earlier she had disclosed repeated rape and sexual abuse by her father, which had started when she was 13. Shortly before her suicide, Ms Warrener sent a text to a loved one saying she could not cope because of what her father had done to her.

In May 2012 at Newcastle Crown Court, Michael Warrener (59) was jailed for 19 years and told that he is largely to blame for Ms Warrener’s suicide.

Warrener, of Twickenham Road, Sunderland, had denied one charge of indecent assault and three of rape but was found guilty. The court had heard how Warrener repeatedly abused Claire Warrener from the age of around 13.

The lengthy, harrowing statement Ms Warrener made when she reported her abuse to the police was used as evidence against her father during the trial.

Judge John Milford told Warrener: “I am satisfied you are, at least in part, responsible for her death. She had made a victim impact statement speaking of the considerable impact the offences had made upon her. Though other factors may have played a part in the decision she took to end her life, she sent a text saying she could not cope any longer because of what you had done to her. This was a gross breach of trust causing great harm. You have demonstrated no remorse.”

Ms Warrener’s family were in court to see her father jailed. Speaking after the hearing, a spokesperson for her family said: “The most important part of all this is we got justice for Claire. We hope he rots in hell. We have always said Claire did what she did because of the abuse he put her through, now the judge has publicly said that that was in fact one of the reasons for her taking her own life. Even though 19 years sounds like a long time, for us, no sentence could be long enough. As a family we have got a life sentence because of what he did, we will never get Claire back even after he has served the 19 years.”

Prosecutor Penny Moreland told the court how Claire, whose parents had split up, was living with her father when the abuse started.

Ms Moreland said: “He came to her bedroom when she was asleep.” After the first incident of abuse, which happened when Warrener’s then girlfriend had left him, the abuse became progressively worse until, Ms Moreland said, he was sexually abusing her “about three or four times per week.“

The court heard it wasn’t until 2010 that Ms Warrener felt able to report her father for what he had done. Ms Moreland said: ‘She told the police and on March 13 she made her statement.”

Warrener denied the allegations. Ms Moreland said: “He said she might be making the allegation up because he had accused her three weeks earlier of stealing money from him.”

Warrener was also found guilty of indecent assaults on two other child victims.

Note: This report was drawn from reports in the Mail Online.

FOD Note: For Our Daughters has supported Southall Black Sisters (SBS) campaign for a new homicide law of “suicide aggravated by harassment or violence”. Extrapolating from Home Office figures, SBS estimate that 10 women kill themselves every week after repeated abuse.

There is no law in Britain against encouraging suicide without physical help. Only coroner’s courts can compel investigations into suicides and prosecutions are rare. In an article in the Guardian of 2oth March 2012, Pragna Patel of SBS said: “At best, convoluted efforts are being made to hold perpetrators of violent or abusive conduct to account when a suicide results. At worst, such deaths are not properly investigated at all. In our experience, in the face of violence or abuse, many women feel that they have no option but to self-harm or kill themselves. This state of affairs is especially disturbing in the context of a complete absence of any … effective criminal prosecutions of perpetrators of abuse who are demonstrably culpable in causing a woman or vulnerable person to commit suicide.”

Jean Calder (28th May 2012).

0 Categories : Child Sexual Abuse, Deaths in 2011, In Memorium, Parent/Child, Sexual Assault, Suicide, Young Victims
May
27

Annette Sturt

by Jean Calder
Died 20th May 2012.

Annette Sturt (49) was found dead at a property in Dover on 20th May 2012. She had been strangled.

Ms Sturt lived in Prescott Close, Guston, near Dover.

Her son Gary Sturt (30) has appeared before Canterbury Magistrates Court charged with her murder. He will appear at Maidstone Crown Court on 6th June 2012.

Note: This report has been drawn from reports in the BBC and the Kent News.

 

0 Categories : Deaths in 2012, Domestic killing, In Memorium, Parent/Child
May
25

Shafilea Ahmed

by Jean Calder
Found dead February 2004

Shafilea Ahmed (17), a school student, was found dead in Cumbria in February 2004.  Her parents Iftikhar (52), a taxi driver, and Farzana (49) are accused of murdering her at their home on Liverpool Road, Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003. In May 2012 they went on trial at Chester Crown Court. They deny the charges.

Shafilea was reported to have disappeared from home in September 2003 and a week later was reported missing by teachers. Her decomposed and dismembered body was found in a flooded Cumbrian river. Due to decomposition, the cause of death could not be determined by the coroner, despite two post mortems.

Shafilea was born in Bradford and wanted to become a lawyer. It is alleged that her parents killed her because she wanted to live an independent non-traditional life. She had allegedly refused an arranged marriage to a cousin in Pakistan.

It is reported that Shafilea swallowed bleach during the trip to Pakistan in 2003, not long before she died, though her parents denied any attempts to pressurise her. Her father was reported to have claimed that she drank it during a power cut, thinking it was a bottle of fruit juice. Her mother is reported to have suggested the family say she drank it thinking it was mouth wash. Shafilea left poems which suggest she was in despair and confirm that she had run away in the past.

The bleach badly scarred her throat – an injury which required constant medical attention – and she was allowed to return to the UK, where she had to go into hospital for a considerable period of time.

Shafilea’s sister Alesha (23), who would have been 14 at the time of her death, has accused her parents of the murder. Though police had suspected a possible honour killing – and allegedly two of her siblings had been heard at school shortly after her disappearance talking about her murder – her parents were not charged with the death until in Alesha spoke to the police in 2010. The prosecution said it provided the “final piece of the puzzle” about her death.

The court heard that while in custody over an alleged robbery at the family home that she herself had arranged, Alesha told a solicitor and a police detective she had witnessed the murder. On 7 September 2011, Cheshire Police announced that Shafilea’s parents had been charged with her murder.

When Andrew Edis QC for the prosecution asked why Alesha had waited almost seven years to talk about her sister’s murder, she said: “It all got too much, and to be honest I think it was a relief more than anything to be able to tell someone finally.” adding “I just had to let it out. It has been haunting me for a long time.”

Alesha, is in witness protection and gave evidence behind a screen. She said her relationship with her parents “completely broke down” when she went to university, where she realised “how wrong family life was” during trips home at weekends and holidays.

The court heard that the Ahmeds murdered their daughter as they believed she had ‘dishonoured’ them and was too ‘Westernised’. It is alleged they subjected her to constant pressure, threats and domestic violence.

Alesha told the court that on the day of her death there had been an argument about Shafilea’s clothing. Allegedly Shafilea’s brother Junjade, then 13, had been asked by her parents to check Shafilea’s purse. She said saw her parents push her sister on to the sofa in their living room and – as her mother said “just finish it here” – they suffocated her in front of her brother and 2 sisters by forcing a plastic bag into her mouth and holding their hands over her face.

She said both parents held her down and that her father “had her held down with his leg in her midriff. She was kicking her legs”.  Andrew Edis, prosecuting, asked Ms Ahmed whether she could see any of her sister’s face. She replied “Her eyes…They were open really wide. I could tell she was just gasping for air. She wet herself. She wet herself because she was struggling so much.” She said that a few moments later Shafilea lay dead. Ms Ahmed added “My parents carried on with their hands still on her mouth, even after she had stopped struggling. They carried on for 15, maybe 30 seconds.” She said the younger children ran from the room “because they were so upset”. She remained, frozen in shock. She said she watched her father pull Shafilea off the sofa and punch her in the chest “for no reason, just once”.

Alesha Ahmed said that as she left the room to go upstairs, she noticed that her sister’s eyes were still open. A couple of minutes later she went back downstairs and could see her mother sorting out printed, flowery sheets the family normally used as dust sheets when decorating. She said she also saw a roll of black bin bags and two rolls of tape on the kitchen floor.

Ms Ahmed said that while her parents made plans to dispose of the body, the couple’s son, Junyade, told Alesha and her two sisters, aged 12 and 7, who were very upset, that Shafilea “deserved it”.

Alesha said that she and her youngest sister briefly pulled back the bedroom curtains to see their father carrying something to one of the couple’s cars. “I assumed it was bin bags because it was black, with a bit of tape. From the way he was carrying it, it just looked like it was my sister Shafilea.”

Asked why she had kept quiet for all those years, she said: “I think it was not until I went to uni I saw how wrong family life was. When you get used to something, it becomes normal and that’s when I saw it wasn’t normal, really. I think what happened to my sister was wrong but because it’s your parents you think it’s normal because you still love them. I think at uni I did feel the way my sister had – you want to fit in with everyone else, but you are still being forced to live in a different way. I think that’s what made me crack.”

She said she was in a state of “emotional distress” when she made the witness statement about the murder and she had to let it out. When she was at university she lived like a western student and returned at weekends and holidays to her parents’ home. Alesha said her parents had set up a number of potential suitors but she refused to marry “someone she didn’t know” and her relationship with her mother and father “completely broke down” as it meant either living the way they wanted her to live, or live on her own. “Both were a struggle”, she explained to the jury.

When she arranged the robbery, she said she was not thinking properly. On 25th August 2010, three or four masked men burst into the house and searched for money, tying up everyone apart from Alesha. She told the court she was arrested after her mother and brother told police the thieves had known her name. She said “My mental state wasn’t very good, being between the two cultures, trying to please everyone.” She was behaving out of character and drinking at university. “I was not being myself any more.”

The trial continues.

Note: This report was compiled from reports in the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Metro and Daily Mail.

0 Categories : Child Deaths, Deaths prior to 2010, Domestic killing, Domestic Violence, Honour Killing, In Memorium, Murder, Mutilation Desecration, Siblings, Young Victims
May
24

Hannah Windsor

by Jean Calder

Found dead 19th May 2012

Hannah Windsor (17) from Birkenhead, was found dead near Bidston Hill Observatory on Saturday, 19th May 2012, three days after she went missing.

Adam Lewis (18) from Fairmead Road, Moreton, has been remanded in custody accused of her rape and murder. He was also charged with arson at a house on Orchard Road on 12th May.

Wirral Magistrates remanded Lewis to appear at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday.

Note: This report was drawn from reports from the BBC.

1 Categories : Deaths in 2012, In Memorium, Sex Killing, Young Victims
May
23

Racism Trumps the Abuse of Girls

by Jean Calder
by Jean Calder

Over the past few weeks there has been widespread discussion about the grooming and sexual exploitation of white girls by Asian men in Rochdale. Most of the debate has focused upon whether or not there was a racial aspect to the abuse. Blinkered rightwing commentators, including those of the BNP, insisted that the abuse involved racist offending against white girls by Asian Muslim men. Equally blinkered ‘progressives’ rejected any focus on either race or gender, emphasising the vulnerability of the victims and the fact that the majority of men who abuse children are white.

Typical amongst the latter group was Keith Vaz M.P., Chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee,  who said: “I do not believe it is a race issue.” adding “What we need to do is to have a proper far-reaching, thorough investigation into these crimes and causes of these crimes. There are a lot of questions about the way in which organisations that have care of young girls have dealt with them and allowed them to be put into these positions”(my emphasis)… “I think we do need to look into this but I think it is quite wrong to stigmatise a whole community. “

Both groups, obsessed with the issue of race and determined either to condemn or defend Pakistani Muslim men, have refused to address the attitudes of misogyny and contempt for women and girls which lie at the heart of these offences. Both groups have seemed indifferent to the safety of Asian women, happy to make the racist and sexist assumption that abusive Asian men protect ‘their own’ females.

In contrast, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi – encouraged rather touchingly by her Pakistani father – has called for condemnation of what she calls “This small minority who see women as second class citizens, and white women probably as third class citizens”. Baroness Warsi said of the abusers:  “These were grown men, some of them religious teachers, or running businesses, with young families of their own. They knew this was wrong. Whether or not these girls were easy prey, they knew it was wrong.”

Nazir Afzal, also of Pakistani origin, was the courageous chief prosecutor for the CPS in the North West who reversed the original, flawed decision not to prosecute two members of the Rochdale gang. Other trials are in the pipeline. His was an early voice of both reason and outrage, acknowledging that poisonous attitudes to women in sections of the male Pakistani community gave rise to sexual exploitation.  He said of the Rochdale abusers “These men are not defined by their race; they are defined by their attitude to young girls. They almost feel they have a right to control these young girls because no one else will. But they do it for their own nefarious purposes.”

Mr Afzal has reminded an apparently indifferent liberal intelligentsia that young Asian girls may also be suffering abuse, but feel unable to report it. It is to be hoped that the dreadful case of 17 year old Shafilea Ahmed – allegedly murdered because she refused to conform to a traditional life of female obedience and compliance – and that of her sister, allegedly silenced by fear and loyalty, will cause them to reconsider.

Baroness Warsi called for openness in the Islamic community, saying “In mosque after mosque after mosque, this (sexual exploitation of girls) should be raised as an issue so that anybody who is remotely involved should start to feel that the community is turning on them. Communities have a responsibility to stand up and say: ‘This is wrong, this will not be tolerated’.”

In the same way, elsewhere in our community, people such as police, journalists, editors, social workers, lawyers, charity workers and teachers, should examine their own role in failing to address issues of abuse against women and girls.

We surely all have a responsibility to say “This is wrong, this will not be tolerated.”

23rd May 2012.

0 Categories : Aggravated or Serial Sexual Assault, Child Sexual Abuse, Deaths prior to 2010, Honour Killing, Opinion, Sexual Assault, Women's Rights, Young Victims
May
17

Charlene Downes and Paige Chivers

by Jean Calder
Disappeared presumed dead, Charlene in 2003 and Paige in 2007

Charlene Downes (14) disappeared in 2003 and is presumed dead. Paige Chivers (15) went missing in 2007 and is also presumed dead.

The two girls were linked to alleged sexual grooming and exploitation focussed upon fast food outlets in Blackpool. Following Charlene Downes’ disappearance in 2003, police found more than 60 girls were being groomed for sex around 11 Blackpool takeaways. They were mainly aged between 13 and 15, but some were as young as 11. It is alleged the children involved were offered food, alcohol and cigarettes in return for sexual activity.

Charlene Downes

Two restaurant owners were acquitted of Charlene Downes’ murder in 2007 and the crime remains unsolved. A jury failed to reach a verdict on charges that Iyad Albattikhi, a Jordanian, had murdered Charlene Downes while his landlord Mohammed Reveshi, an Iranian, had disposed of her body. A retrial collapsed in 2008 amid failings in the police investigation and the men were paid almost £250,000 each in compensation. The defence had successfully questioned the integrity of the recorded evidence and the accuracy of the transcription.

Claims were made in court that takeaway staff had joked that Charlene’s remains had “gone into the kebabs”. Recordings, later discredited, were alleged to reveal the accused talking about the disposal of the body. In 2012, the kebab shop, now renamed, was refused a hot food licence amid reports of continued ‘sexual activity’ linked to the premises, but the applicants reportedly blamed a police vendetta and appealed. FOD could find no reports as to whether that appeal was successful.

There have been allegations that a police report produced after Charlene Downes vanished in 2003 was suppressed, because of the racial mix of alleged abusers, most of whom were asian or middle eastern in origin, and victims, most of whom were white. Lancashire Police denied a cover up, saying the report had been available online since 2007 but had never been intended for publication. Assistant Chief Constable Andy Rhodes said his officers were making significant progress in tackling child sex exploitation across Lancashire, regardless of the background of the culprits. However, former Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell warned that research into the problem was being hampered by “concerns about upsetting community cohesion”.

Paige Chivers

Paige Chivers disappeared from her home in Longford Avenue, Bispham, Lancashire on 23rd August 2007 after a family argument. She packed a suitcase before she left. She was a former student at Montgomery High School.

Four people have previously been arrested on suspicion of Paige’s murder but all have been released without charge. Police in Lancashire have said they are committed to finding her killer. Detective Superintendent Dermott Horrigan, who is leading the investigation, said the police had “exhausted potential leads” for Paige, who would now be 20. He said it was never too late for people to come forward with new information, adding: “We remain committed to finding out the truth about what has happened to Paige.”

Paige was due to inherit a substantial amount of money on her 18th birthday following the death of her mother, police said.

Two years after her disappearance a 51-year-old man was arrested in Blackpool and was questioned about the disappearance. At that time, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rothwell, from Lancashire Police’s major investigation team, was in charge of the investigation. He said then “Paige’s family continue to live with the daily anguish of not knowing what has happened to her and this month will face their third Christmas without her….We continue to keep an open mind and look for evidence as to what has happened to Paige.”

At the time she disappeared, her father, Chris, said: “I know that we had cross words before she left but I’m sure we can sort things out.”  Detective Superintendent Kevin Toole said: “Paige has been described to us as a ‘streetwise’ girl, but nevertheless she is only 15 and we need her to contact us or her father to say that she is safe and well.

Note: This report was drawn from reports in the BBC and in the Daily Mail.

 

0 Categories : Child Deaths, Child Sexual Abuse, Deaths prior to 2010, In Memorium, IPCC Report or Review, Murder, Police Response, Sexual Assault, Young Victims
May
14

Christine Pearmain

by Jean Calder
Found dead 11th May 2012

Christine Pearmain (64) was found dead on Friday 11th May 2012 at her home  in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire. It is believed Ms Pearmain was stabbed in the chest by her husband Ronald (66) before he killed himself.

Police officers confirmed they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the two deaths.

The alarm had been raised by a member of the public who was concerned for the welfare of the couple. Police forced their way into the house and found the bodies.

A neighbour suggested that the husband had taken an overdose before stabbing Ms Pearmain and then hanging himself. The neighbour speculated that he might have been under the influence of a drug, adding “We have no idea why he might have done this but it is very sad.”

A post-mortem examination found that Ms Pearmain had died from a stab wound to the chest but police are waiting for a toxicology test result for her husband.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ross from Hertfordshire Police said: ‘This is a very tragic case.” He said “I would stress that we do not believe there has been any third party involvement in this case. Specialist support is being given to the families at this very difficult time.”

Note: This report was drawn from a report in the Daily Mail.

For Our Daughters Notes: Once again, we express our disquiet at the way in which murder/suicides tend to be reported by police as tragic events rather than dreadful crimes committed by individuals who subsequently choose to end their own lives. Victims of a murder/suicide have no such choice.

3 Categories : Deaths in 2012, Domestic killing, Homicide / Suicide, In Memorium, Older Victim
May
13

Jacqueline Charles

by Jean Calder
Died 17th August 2011

Jacqueline Charles (48), mother of two children, died on 17th August 2011 when her estranged husband Paul Charles, 53, drove the car they were both in over the edge of Culver Down cliffs between Bembridge and Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Ms Charles lived in Union Road in Ryde, while her husband lived in Albert Road in Sandown.

An inquest at Newport Coroner’s Court in May 2012 heard that Ms Charles had separated from her husband some weeks before their deaths. The court heard they both died from multiple injuries consistent with a fall.

George Johnston, the coroner, delivered a verdict of suicide in both cases. He reached this decision despite police and other evidence that she had been under pressure.

Maureen Johnston, Jacqueline’s mother, who lives in Chislehurst, south-east London, said their family has been left devastated by the death of her daughter. Ms Johnston said her daughter was a fantastic mother to her two teenage children from a previous relationship.  Ms Johnston said: “She was a really lovely person. She was kind and she was always happy. She loved her family and she adored her children.”

The hearing was told Paul Charles, a former Metropolitan Police officer, was depressed after the breakdown of his five year relationship and over issues to do with their children.

Coastguards said the car was thought to have been travelling at more than 30mph (48km/h) when it went over the cliffs.

Friends of Ms Charles said she told them her husband wanted to kill himself and had pressured her to carry it out with him. The hearing was told the couple had attempted to poison themselves before by connecting a hosepipe to the car but Ms Charles had had a change of heart and begged to be let out. Mr Charles agreed and got out of the car as well.

Det Sgt Crane, of Hampshire Police, said a suicide note was found in Paul Charles’ wallet, as well as another at the home of Mrs Charles, in Union Road, Ryde. She told the inquest that the couple had a “volatile” relationship and lived apart. She added that Ms Charles, who had a drink problem and who had spent time in rehabilitation, had talked about killing herself. She said “She would often talk about taking her life, talked of her and Paul going to the pier to jump, she had said she was prepared this time,” said Det Sgt Crane.

However, Det Sgt Crane added Ms Charles had also said that she did not intend to take her own life. She told the hearing of Ms Charles’ allegation that: “Paul had started to apply pressure to her to go along with the suicide. Paul was still planning to take his own life, he had asked her to go to Culver Down to say goodbye. She said she had no intention to commit suicide whatsoever, she said she had too much to live for.”

The hearing was told there were suicide notes, both of which were written by Mr Charles. Ms Charles reportedly counter-signed both the letters written by Paul  Charles, but her writing was not on them.

The Coroner said that “as a similar letter in her writing was discovered in a prominent position in her flat, coupled with the evidence of several witnesses that she didn’t appear to be under any form of compulsion or of fear or make any attempt to escape or jump out of the car, I have recorded a verdict of suicide in her case as well.”

He described Ms Charles and her husband as having been in a “destructive relationship” adding: “Like many destructive relationships, it came to not being able to live with them but not being able to live without them.”

After the hearing, Caroline Sharp, Ms Charles’s sister, said she was shocked that her sister had been put under pressure by her husband. Ms Sharp said: “She had her troubles but she was fun-loving. I still can’t believe it happened. I do not believe it’s the way she would have chosen to have done it if she had. Only they will truly know. She has left notes before but she hasn’t done it [killed herself].”

Note: This report was drawn from reports in the BBC and the Daily Telegraph.

Additional Note: For Our Daughters notes the comments from the police and coroner suggesting Ms Charles’ marriage was “volatile” and “destructive”. We note that such words are often used as euphemisms for the existence of domestic violence. However, there is no record that any evidence to support this was provided to the inquest.

 

0 Categories : Deaths in 2011, Deaths No-crimed, In Memorium, Suicide
May
11

Rochdale Abuse Case and False Assumptions

by Jean Calder
By Jean Calder

There are two false assumptions that have distorted debate about the Rochdale abuse case (hardly ‘grooming’ given that the victims were actively and serially abused).

The first is that victims were targeted because they were vulnerable or white. This confuses the issue, missing the fact that they were targeted primarily because of their gender, by misogynist men who thought these unprotected girls easy prey.

A second associated assumption, unfortunately echoed by the judge, is that these abusive men were protective of women within their own communities. In fact, abusive men who attack women outside their homes often pose a serious threat to those within them, though they may express and justify their violence in different ways.

The fact that such men may express authoritarian religious and social attitudes about women and enforce their confinement within the home is evidence of a desire to control rather than protect, to limit rights rather than defend them. Such attitudes increase rather than lessen the danger and help silence victims and witnesses.

Reportedly, several of these men told their victims that “in their country” sex with minors is acceptable. In the light of this, it is to be hoped that the police and social services offer assistance to all women and children who have had contact with these dangerous men.

2 Categories : Aggravated or Serial Sexual Assault, Child Sexual Abuse, Opinion, Sexual Assault, Women's Rights, Young Victims
May
6

Jane Kelly

by Jean Calder
Found dead 28th October 2011

Jane Kelly (22), an art student, died in October 2011. She was strangled and stabbed in the head by her boyfriend Mark Jarvie (22), at his family home in Powmill, Kinross.

Ms Kelly, of  Findlay Douglas Court, St Andrews, in Fife, was a third year fine art student at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University of Dundee. She had been living in Dundee.

Following her death , Ms Kelly’s family paid tribute to her in a statement which read: “We have lost a very special, beautiful daughter. Life has been taken away from her at such a young age and with such a bright future in front of her. She will be so sadly missed by her mum, dad, her brother, sisters and all who were blessed to know her.”

In May 2012, at the High Court in Aberdeen Judge Lord Tyre instructed the jury to find Jarvie, a former student of Edinburgh University, who has been detained at Carstairs, not guilty of the charge of murder on account of his insanity. A joint minute read to the jury at the High Court agreed he had killed her, but psychiatrists concluded that he had suffered a “total alienation of reason” at the time of the offence.

Ms Kelly was originally reported by the BBC to have died during a disturbance at the house, while Jarvie’s parents were away in Thailand. Later reports do not make it clear exactly when she died, only that her body was discovered by Jarvie’s parents.

The court heard that Jarvie’s parents, Gordon and Linda, walked into his room on 28th October 2011 to find Ms Kelly had been strangled and stabbed in the head with a knife. They reported that she was lying face down on the bed fully clothed and added that their son was sitting on the floor with his hands round her neck. They reported that he muttered something about Alan Sugar and shouted: “Get out of my house”.

The court also heard Jarvie’s friends and family had become concerned about his aggressive, and out of character behaviour in the weeks leading up to Ms Kelly’s death.

After the hearing, Ms Kelly’s parents, from St Andrews, said they were struggling to understand why their daughter was not informed of his condition. Her father, Graeme Kelly, said: “Jane was the greatest and most generous of girls and her loss causes us overwhelming pain. We, as a family, continue to grieve. We cannot come to terms with why Mark Jarvie perpetuated such a wicked, pointless and senseless act.” He added: “We have listened to all the psychiatrists evidence and we are being asked to accept that Jarvie was, and remains, very ill. Nevertheless, we will never understand why he did what he did, nor can we forgive.”

Ms Kelly was thought to have been dating Jarvie for about eight months before she was attacked.

Defence lawyer Ian Duguid QC said his client felt “extreme sorrow, regrets and remorse” for what happened and added: “He has to live with this tragedy every day of his life.” (For Our Daughters notes that Ms Kelly has no life at all and deplores the use of the word ‘tragedy’ in this context)

When he gave his instructions to the jury, Lord Tyre described the case as “most distressing”.

Note: This report was drawn from reports from the BBC.

 

1 Categories : Acquitted Insanity, Deaths in 2012, Domestic killing, Domestic Violence, In Memorium, Young Victims
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