Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2011
HEADLINE
California policymakers recognize SAAM & Denim Day — CALCASA
The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault continues our strong tradition of reaching out to policymakers and the Administration to raise awareness about sexual violence throughout our state. ...
FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
137 articles by 92 contibutors
Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2011HEADLINE
Footer
Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women is a global advocacy and communications platform on ending violence against women and girls. It triggers and showcases actions around the world. The glo...
FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS
TABLE OF CONTENT
162 articles by 92 contibutors
Dear Friends,
On 1 January 2011, The United Nations made history as UN Women, the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, began its work, led by a powerful vision—“Gender equality must become a lived reality”.Join us for the LIVE WEBCAST of the launch of UN Women at the United Nations Headquarters
Honouring the Past – Envisioning the Future for Women and GirlsThursday, 24 February 2011, 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM, EST
www.un.org/webcast.
Hosted by Emcee Christiane Amanpour and other distinguished speakers and performersMark your calendars!
Sincerely,
Say NO Team, UN Women
“If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.” ~ Mary Douglas (1921-2007)
Monday and Tuesday I gave you my opinion about the Father’s rights Movement, that I think it may have started out as some good fathers and men attempting to make their children’s lives better. I said that I believe abusers have taken that over and ultimately made children’s lives worse through the Family Court System.
After all, it is abusers that want to maintain power and control of their victims and could care less about what is really best for their kid’s. They will twist everything so that it appears to those they are manipulating that the victim is the one in the wrong or that the victim is the abuser.
Today, I felt it was only fair to discuss the various avenues that a truly good father can take to protect him and his children. I’ve already stated that I don’t believe that just being a parent (whether mom or dad) makes a person a good parent. There are men out there that are abused by women and there are kids out there that are abused by moms.
Most of the time men that abused will not seek help; mainly for the same reasons a woman won’t, but with the added social embarrassments that women don’t have. What will their friends and family think about them ‘letting’ a woman abuse? Men are most often not believed either; by friends, family, and professionals.
The reason for these two additional factors is because the way society as a whole thinks about gender. A man doesn’t ‘let’ himself be abused anymore than a woman ‘lets’ herself be abused. No abuse victim wants to be abused, in any way, regardless of what type of abuse it is. An abuser can gain power and control of their victim in many different ways and the victim rarely sees this happening until it is too late.
When a man finds himself the victim of domestic violence or abuse and seek help they often find no services geared specifically for men. The main reason for this is that most men (not all) are not abused to the point that they can no longer provide for themselves or that their lives are in physical danger. The shelters that are set up to help women can’t house abused men in with abused women for many reasons, mainly because many abusers attempt to play themselves off as victims to gain entrance into a shelter to find their victims... horrifying! But also because most shelters are not set up for co-habitation between males and females.
Organizations and shelters can however still help men that need that help. The can help them by providing emergency assistance with vouchers for hotel for a couple nights for their safety, this is one of the things a man would have to know to ask for though... even most women don’t know to ask for a voucher when told the shelter is full.
Men can also call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for Men and Women at 1.888.743.5754 to ask for advice and help in their particular situation. Online a man can go any of these sites (which I found here):
I would suggest that any man who is a victim of domestic violence visit An Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence Aid and Resource Collection: http://www.aardvarc.org/dv/malevictims.shtml There are a lot of good resources there that can help a man and their children.
There are good fathers out there, I just want them to be able to help themselves and their children without getting sucked into the FR Movement. After all abusers can manipulate anyone, that is what makes them good at lying in court and getting their way, rather than the best interest of their child being protected by the court.
Please go to link below sign in and SAY NO-UNiTE To End Violence Against Women AND THEIR CHILDREN.
Stop Violence Against Mothers And Their Children
As many are aware, there is a silent genocide occurring against women. This is part of a major reason why women all over the world are united to end violence against women. What many do not know or connect is that a lot of women experiencing violence perpetrated against them are also mothers. Many ads on stopping violence against women portray women without children as a means to get the message across clearly; but they fail to represent the large proportion of mothers in this situation.
Experts in intimate partner violence have noted that there is a high correlation between abuse and pregnancy. Some scholars state that this is because they are envious of the relationship between the mother and the child. Using violence, coercion and control is often part of the effort to destroy these bonds. The problem then exacerbates when a mother tries to leave--often not to save herself but to save the child. Leaving is one of the most dangerous times for all women enduring intimate partner violence, and, accompanied with an inadequate system, the odds are stacked against her. With a community plagued by stereotypes on child custody cases, closed courtrooms and loopholes in laws compounded by pop-psychology, we have a situation where most mothers in this predicament are torn away from the children they tried to protect. In the 1980s, Dr Richard Gardner coined the term, “Parent Alienation Syndrome”. This term remained a term only, because most of the scientific community rejected it. His literature promoted ideas that victims of abuse were mentally ill and deliberately raised concerns about the abuse as an act of hate. Dr Richard Gardner also testified in a homicide case where a mother was shot 13 times. Gardner claimed that her “alienating behavior” drove him to kill her. Although the scientific community rejected Parent Alienation Syndrome, the legal community embraced it. Carefully removing the word "syndrome", the belief set remained. Whilst his work began in US, he traveled around the world promoting these ideas to court professionals and others who had a direct influence on child custody case outcomes. Some organizations that offer training for judges even held workshops on “maternal gate-keeping”, which trivialized the experiences of women and children leaving intimate partner violence. Whilst Dr. Gardner passed away several years ago, his doctrine lives on and others have polished up his work to continue its grave influence upon the legal community.
Mothers are often subjected to degrading treatment within the courtrooms where they are forced to deny their experiences and their need to survive and protect--or they will face jail. All legal avenues within this culture are blocked. This is why we have a battered mothers custody conference where mothers, professionals and young people unite to end violence against women and children through the system. It is why I traveled all the way from Australia to be there this year amongst others who have also traveled from other parts of the globe to attend. It is a global issue that affects many. This year, Holly Ann Collins, the first American to receive asylum in Netherlands, spoke about her ordeal. Revered by many as a brave mother who, against all odds, was able to save herself and her children. She was listed and hunted by US as an abductor even though they knew why she ran. She arrived at the airport with a suitcase of evidence which led to her being granted asylum. She was hard on herself because she did not do it sooner. Whilst leaving with the children under these circumstances should be seen as the best thing to do, there is no legal avenue to do so. Some laws and treaties appear from the surface to have some consideration of women and children experiencing violence, but the processes, culture, economics and ambiguity of the situation stifle opportunities to do so. Holly Ann Collins' outcome is a rare one. We need better laws that protect mothers and children from violence without punishment or further victimization.
SPONSORED by UN MOTHERS
CONTACT INFORMATION
Name: UN Mothers
Title: Advocate
Email: smith@ssl-mail.com
OTHER PARTNERS
American Mothers Political Party
Wendy Murphy: Punishing abusers key to protecting women
By Wendy Murphy
GateHouse News Service
Posted Oct 27, 2009 @ 12:01 PM
It's October, which means it’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
But we don’t really need an “awareness month” anymore. There’s so much domestic violence, we’re in a chronic state of awareness. What we really need is a revolution.
First the facts:
- A woman is beaten every 15 seconds.
- Nearly two dozen victims of domestic violence are already dead this year alone in Massachusetts. Other states report similar numbers.
- As many as 10 million children a year are exposed to domestic violence, causing them to suffer emotional and psychological harm, not to mention that they grow up believing that smacking your spouse is part of a “normal” relationship. No surprise then that boys who watch their fathers beat their mothers are far more likely as adults to do the same thing to their female partners.
- According to the Justice Department, women suffer violent victimization more than 4 million times a year. Approximately one-third of the crimes are committed by intimate partners.
- Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury for American women between the ages of 15 and 44.
- Among homeless women and children, half are homeless because of domestic violence.
- Medical expenses resulting from domestic violence amount to around $4 billion annually.
Now a few of the embarrassing reasons for so much suffering:
- Most cases of domestic violence are not reported to law enforcement because victims fear retaliation, are financially dependent on their abuser, or believe the justice system will not protect them and/or is useless to deter the violence.
- Of the cases that are reported and accepted for prosecution, only about half end in conviction while one-third are dismissed by the prosecutor. For the small percentage of cases that end in conviction, the punishment is usually trivial.
In sum, there are three main reasons why women are abused in such large numbers by men who claim to love them: Offenders aren’t being punished! Offenders aren’t being punished! Offenders aren’t being punished!
Some argue that punishment doesn’t stop domestic violence and that we need to do more “education and prevention” to change the way males are raised so they will learn to respect women more. These tend to be the people who get funding to do “education and prevention.” In other words, they’re paid to co-opt victims into believing that justice and punishment aren’t important even though some research shows that the only thing that stops violent men is incapacitation (read: jail).
Even if education and cultural retraining might help some day, while we’re waiting around for our species to evolve, we need to give all endangered women a .45 caliber equalizer and we need to ramp up the punishment of batterers so that beating a woman isn’t sentenced on par with spitting on the sidewalk.
Anti-incarceration advocates will tell you that prison isn’t fun – and that it often spawns a toxic mental software that makes men who enter come out worse than ever when their sentence wraps up.
But if fear of becoming a monster in prison, and respect for women isn’t enough to deter a man from beating his wife, he’s already toxic – and putting him behind bars will prevent him from infecting innocent others with his poison. Punishment isn’t the only way to stop violence, but it is a legitimate and effective feature of our legal system. Lots of research shows how states that send a higher percentage of criminals to prison have lower rates of crime, even after controlling for all of things like poverty and urbanization.
But incarceration is a dirty word in the lexicon of some liberals who claim that locking people up gives the government dangerous amounts of power and threatens the freedom of the individual.
They’re wrong.
The freedom of FEMALE individuals is actually greatly enhanced when criminals who target women for violence are incapacitated.
But our legal system doesn’t care. And despite decades of disastrous statistics, our political leaders don’t care, either. In fact, nobody in a position of leadership is even complaining about the lack of justice for victimized women.
Earlier this month, there was a big to-do in D.C. about women’s issues in the Obama administration. Lynn Rosenthal, whose responsibility it is to deal with violence against women on behalf of the president, gave a lovely talk about all sorts of things, but never once mentioned the profound failure of law to redress domestic violence or the desperate need for tougher punishments for batterers.
Obviously, the men who promised “change” and “hope” for a better society, and who haven’t shied away from talking about the need for tough punishments for corporate criminals, have little “hope” to offer women in danger. It's just more politicians in a long line of others who value stuff more than women’s lives.
Patriot Ledger contributor Wendy Murphy is a leading victims rights advocate and nationally recognized television legal analyst. She is an adjunct professor at New England Law in Boston. She can be reached at wmurphy@nesl.edu. Read more of her columns at The Daily Beast .
Wendy Murphy: Punishing abusers key to protecting women - Brockton, MA - The Enterprise
It’s about time they get the DV services in CA up and running again! Great news!! (Emphasis's in bold below is mine)
Squabbles -- both between and within the parties -- are set aside as senators unanimously vote to restore domestic violence funding and make it easier for localities to borrow money.
After threatening a mass veto Sunday night to spur a big water deal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reversed course and signed a surprising slate of legislation. It included bills he had vetoed in the past and measures that steered sharply away from the socially conservative Republican base he has rarely embraced. (Robyn Beck / AFP/Getty Images / September 30, 2009)
Related
Reporting from Sacramento - Setting aside political squabbles, Senate Republicans lifted their blockade on several budget bills Wednesday, voting with Democrats to approve measures that restore funding cut from domestic violence shelters and help cities and counties borrow money to balance their budgets.
Republican lawmakers had refused last month to help muster the necessary two-thirds vote for two dozen pieces of legislation in a dispute over unrelated matters.
"We've resolved the issues and we're moving forward," Senate minority leader Dennis Hollingsworth of Murrieta said after Wednesday's vote.Lawmakers said they hope to carry the new bipartisanship into negotiations over a plan to upgrade California's water system. The Senate on Wednesday gaveled in special sessions on water and tax reform.
Senators voted unanimously to approve a measure restoring $16 million cut from the budget for 94 domestic violence shelters, forcing half a dozen shelters to close and others to reduce their services.
"We have put more families at risk," Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) said of the cuts. "When shelters close down, lives are at stake."
The spat between the two parties was not the only one that affected SB3X 13. The Democratic leadership stripped Yee's authorship of the bill in a pique after Yee dissented from the Democratic majority on other budget bills.
Yee said he was putting aside his frustration with having his name removed, but complained on the Senate floor about a lack of tolerance of dissent.
"We're not in the Stone Age. We don't beat people down," Yee said.The dispute between Republicans and Democrats cent... California's GOP vote-boycott ends, key bills pass -- latimes.com
Seed Newsvine
Seed NewsvinePlease just read this! Stories like this are being printed all across America and no one seems to realize that women who try to protect themselves only end up getting abused again by the Family Court system. When are people in this country going to wake up? Battered women and children are dying all over this country and yet, judges see nothing wrong with what they are doing when they force a woman and her kids back into an area where they are probably going to be killed.
Battered women do not flee the area for shits and grins! No one likes moving. So, why in the hell would someone do so without a good reason? I can answer that one...THEY WOULDN’T! No mother is going to drag her kids all over the place and keep them in totally upheaval for anything less than to save their lives! Even the most well planned out moves that ordinary people make for good reasons are stressful and no one really likes it. If a mother didn’t care about her children she would just stay in the area and not go through it all!
A Decatur County woman who said she fled the state fearing for her life and that of her 7-year-old son is being required to return or risk being arrested.
Ringgold County Attorney Clint Spurrier has thus far rejected pleas from advocates of domestic-violence victims to drop a criminal complaint against Hannah Newberry for violating the visitation arrangement from her divorce in June. If Newberry returns to Iowa for a family court hearing today, she could be arrested - and possibly lose custody of her son, she said."This to me is blackmail," said Newberry, who was awarded sole physical custody of the couple's son. "I left to protect myself. They're trying to make me a criminal even though I'm not the one who has done anything wrong."
Newberry, 47, originally of Lamoni, said she fled to Ohio on June 12 because of escalating harassment by her former husband, Timothy Newberry.
Iowa's Department of Human Services has confirmed several cases of abusive behavior by Timothy Newberry. Two alleged violations of protection orders brought by Hannah Newberry were dropped this summer because she would not return to Iowa to testify against her ex-husband.Timothy Newberry could not be reached for comment.
Spurrier said he was appointed to the case only recently because Decatur's county attorney had a conflict. Spurrier also said that until Hannah Newberry appears in court, where she will be represented by an attorney, there is little he can do. A charge is already on file, and a warrant for her arrest was issued.
"When she returns, it would be my anticipation that she turns herself in so arrangements can be made for her release," Spurrier said.He added that he is restricted in what he can say to a defendant without an attorney present. "I don't think there's any intention to hold her in jail," he said.
A national organization called Stop Family Violence has made appeals to Iowa's attorney general, Gov. Chet Culver and Chief Justice Arthur Gamble to intervene in the case. The organization's members also pleaded to Spurrier in letters, saying Hannah Newberry is in a no-win situation: If she returns, she can be arrested and puts herself or her son at risk. If she is jailed, Timothy Newberry can petition the court to regain custody of their son.Timothy Newberry "has a long, documented history of severe domestic and child abuse spanning 30 years and two additional wives," the group wrote Culver on Sept. 4.
Miller and Culver did not respond; Gamble wrote back saying he could not intervene under state law, the organization said.
Stop Family Violence said all three of Timothy Newberry's previous wives obtained orders of protection from him. A child-abuse report written four years ago said Newberry's violent temper "appears to be becoming progressively worse." The social worker said she feared for the safety of his children and recommended that Newberry, 51, have only supervised visits with his children.A copy of an Iowa Department of Human Services child-abuse assessment obtained by The Des Moines Register shows Timothy Newberry was found responsible for child abuse for trying to choke his wife while she was holding their 3-year-old son in March 2005. He had three similar confirmed, or founded, child-abuse reports, in November 1990, in 1998 and in 2004.
According to a social worker's report, the 2005 incident was spurred when Hannah Newberry tried to leave the home because her husband was in such a foul mood. He began to choke her, blocked the door and smiled as she struggled, saying " 'Oh, good - struggle. Go ahead. I bet you want to call 911, don't you?' " according to the DHS report.
Eventually Hannah Newberry managed to escape, and the police arrived.
Mom who fled Iowa, ex-spouse risks jail on return | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register
Over 90% of Familicides are Fathers Killing Their Families
from RightsForMothers.com by justice4mothers
Can’t say that I agree the with this explantion of motivating factor for familicide. But the fact that 196 of 211 familicides were committed by men (92.89%) shows that murder of family members are being committed by MALES more than 90% of the time. True to the Violence Policy Center’s prior studies.
Expert: Rate Of Familicides Rising
Peter Busch
Reporter, KPHO.comFLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A criminal justice professor said familicide, a crime in which a parent kills his or her family, is on the rise.”We’ve noticed over the past year a marked increase in familicides nationally,” said Neil Websdale, a professor at Northern Arizona University.Websdale believes the recession is one of the reasons behind the spike.”I think what’s happening is perpetrators are killing because they somehow perceive that they have failed as providers, lovers, fathers, and in a small number of cases, wives and mothers,” he said.
Websdale just wrote the book Familicidal Hearts, which will be released in January. In the book, he looked at 211 cases of familicide. In 196 of those cases, the father was the killer.Websdale said the recent murder-suicide in Mesa where a mother apparently killed her two teenage sons before killing herself is the exception to the rule.”Without knowing all the facts, it’s tough to say what was behind it — but it definitely looks like a rare case,” he said.
Note: Cross posted from (blogger angelzfury) Anonymoms (we are everywhere).
Permalink
Posted September 23, 2009
Hi All, and Welcome to Anonymiss!
Anonymiss is a collective of individuals who value the lives of women and children. Our intended goal is to provide resources and information to help women and children to lead lives free from all types of abuse. We respect that men may also encounter some of the issues contained on our site and welcome them to share in the information that is provided; however we are not geared towards males.
Links provided here do not mean that Anonymiss is affiliated in any way with those organizations. We are providing links to sources that may or may not be able to help you, and we will not be held responsible for information that you gain from or share with these sources.
If you have content suggestions, questions, comments, etc. Please use our Contact Form to ensure that we see your correspondence. We make every effort to respond to each message, please be patient with us, we will get back to you. You can also use the contact form if you would like more information about Anonymiss in general or if you would like to volunteer to help with the site and/or blog.
We welcome any and all feedback that you provide either through the contact form or through comments on the blogs.
Thank you for stopping by, please share our link with others that may find something useful here.
Technorati Tags: Another,Anony,Anonymiss,Message,Courts,Anonymums,Where,blip,Welcome,Home,Contact,Child,Abuse,Violence,Domestic,Custodial,Moms,Sexual,Assault,Misc,News,September,individuals,children,goal,Links,comments,Form,correspondence,effort,volunteer,feedback,Thank,organizations,suggestions,women
Note: Cross posted from (blogger angelzfury) Anonymoms (we are everywhere).
Permalink
Filed under: Child Custody Issues Battered Women
The Family Courts around the world are sentencing our children to death, by enforcing visitations and custody with abusive parents. This site not only provides research about this ever growing problem but is also a tribute to those that have bee killed at the hands of their abuser because of court orders.
Below is an excerpt from Family Court Murders
The Untied Nations definition of Genocide set out in the Convention on Genocide is:
Article 2
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. In the news, it is common to see these murders blamed on the economy or the stress associated with divorce.
Unless you are a keen researcher, you are not privy to knowing what academics and even the UN knew for years
A silent but deadly genocide against women and children where authorities have had many opportunities to eliminate the root cause, but chose not to.
In every case these deaths are a result of child custody disputes where the court knows of a violent history, but decides to gamble with their lives for the sake of "fathers rights".
Cross-posted from Mama Liberty
“Children say that people are hung sometimes for speaking the truth.” St. Joan of Arc
“I AM NOT AFRAID, I WAS BORN TO DO THIS”
St. Joan of Arc & Mama Liberty
“My child and I have been threatened and intimidated by the possibility that I may go to jail and be held in contempt due to my child refusing to have visitation with her abusive father and she may go to foster care.” Her father has told her this over and over again, as well as Judge David Miron.
This is not the first time that this mother has had to protect her child from the father. Oconto County CPS did substantiate sexual abuse allegations against the the father, he found a loop hole and had the recused Family Court Commissioner, Frank M. Calvert unsubstantiated the sexual abuse allegations.
The system has failed my child, from Oconto County and its CPS worker, Carrie Silbernagel-Burke to Marinette County Circuit Court Judge, David Miron.
This father does not have the means to care for her. She has no bed or a bedroom due to the fact he lives with his mother who only has two bedrooms.
The 11 yr old child is given the choice to sleep either on the floor in the living room or down in the basement. She has no privacy or space to call her own while she is in her fathers care. She is continually tormented and tortured by both her paternal grandmother and father, this is nothing new.
This child has been exposed to domestic violence by her father towards her mother several times. She was also a passenger in his car when he was arrested for driving drunk in the middle of the day. The CPS worker, Carrie Silbernagel-Burke told the mother:
“drinking and driving with his daughter did not make him a bad father, he made a bad choice.”
This was nothing compared to the sexual abuse my child endured and other court ordered abuse.
My child has taken her stand against her abuser, the court ordered abuse and threats of foster care by Judge David Miron.
My child is not an empty vessel, she KNOWS where she is safe. She has not lied to social workers, even with her father prodding her to.
All her needs are provided by her loving Mother and she knows that
“I am not going to shut up, give up or go away!”
“My only wish is for my daughter to be safe and sane.”
If this mother is jailed for doing what any mother would do for her child
the consequences to my accusers and judges will be as follows.
There will be a hunger strike (Troscadh), and all the battles up until now were training for we intend to win the war and expose the dirty little secrets of family court and the criminals that run it.
Change
Everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fights, battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead
Best
You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is nowChange
Everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fights and battles ‘ve begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are aheadBest
You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is nowDon’t
Let yourself down
Don’t let yourself go
Your last chance has arrivedBest
You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now
This brought to us by Dastardly Dads...their comment says enough, I feel no need to add to it!
"Dad" takes 2-month-old girl from women's shelter (with their permission) and kills her (Singapore, Singapore)
This story is freaking unbelievable.
SARLE STEEPAN KOKUNDU, who falsely declared he was the biological father of his girlfriend's two-month-old daughter when the birth was registered, attacks the girlfriend at work while drunk for "not telling him that she was working" and other random accusations (typical abuser/control freak stuff). He pushes the girlfriend and punches her in the head. The police are called. They apparently don't arrest this goon, they just tell him to leave (mistake #1). Mom was staying at a women's shelter called the Good Shepherd Centre at the time--apparently a shelter run by complete idiots and incompetents (mistake #2). Dad then goes to the shelter, lies, and says that the mother gave him "permission" to take the child out. AND THESE MORONS HAND OVER THE KID! NO PROOF, NO NOTHING! (mistake #3). Virtually as soon as he gets the baby out of there, the "seething" dad slaps her and "roughs her up" till she is bleeding from the mouth. A passerby notices that the baby is blue and motionless, and alerts the staff at the shelter, who call for an ambulance. Apparently these nitwits didn't notice that the man who had just picked up a baby from their shelter was literally beating the sh-- out of this kid just outside their door. (mistake #4). And this POS actually rides in the ambulance to the hospital with the baby! (mistake #5). Later that night, the baby dies from a fractured skull, and the "dad" is arrested for murder.
What good are DV shelters when they pull this crap?
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_427758.html
Sep 10, 2009
Man admits killing baby
He repeatedly slapped two-month-old girl, who died from skull fractures
By Selina Lum
AFTER attacking his girlfriend at her workplace, a man went to the women's shelter where she was staying and asked for her two-month-old baby girl. Sarle Steepan Kolundu, 44, was registered as the infant's biological father - even though he was not - and he was allowed to take her out.He was still seething when he took the baby, and he slapped and roughed her up until she was bleeding profusely from the mouth. They were just metres from the shelter, the Good Shepherd Centre.
A passer-by, seeing that the baby had turned blue and was motionless, alerted staff at the shelter, who called for an ambulance.
The infant, Esther Regina Sarle Steepan, died in hospital from skull fractures. Sarle Steepan, who went in the ambulance with her, was arrested at the hospital that night. He was initially charged with murder, which carries the death penalty, for killing the baby on June 1 last year.
But on Wednesday, on what would have been the start of a 13-day trial in the High Court, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.He faces life in prison or up to 20 years' jail and can also be caned or fined. Next Monday, the prosecution will argue its case for sentencing and the defence will plead for leniency.
The court heard that Sarle Steepan and Ms Siti Noor Fazlina Haron, 24, entered into a relationship soon after they met in August 2007. For a while, they lived together in a rented flat, but moved out shortly in February last year. Ms Siti was then pregnant with another man's child.
Esther Regina was born on March 27 last year. Sarle Steepan knew he was not the biological father, but falsely declared that he was while registering her birth in May. Later that month, he began suspecting that Ms Siti was cheating on him.On the evening of June 1 last year, reeking of alcohol, he showed up at the shopping mall where she worked and created a scene. He berated her for not telling him that she was working, pushed her and repeatedly punched her on the head.
The police were called in and they advised him to leave. He then cycled to the shelter and lied that Ms Siti had given him permission to take the baby out.
After the baby was handed to him, he pushed her in a pram to the void deck of the block. After his arrest, Sarle Steepan admitted that he had repeatedly slapped the baby in anger. An autopsy report said the skull fractures showed that the blows to the baby's head were of 'considerable force' and were highly unlikely to have been caused accidentally.
Explain this to me...if men are responsible for most cases of DV (over 90%) why then are women 3 times more likely to be arrested for it?? Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot...it IS illegal to defend yourself when you are an abuse victim. Because victims are not allowed to defend themselves! What a load of bullshit!!
Original: Women three times more likely to be arrested for domestic violence | Society | guardian.co.uk
Women three times more likely to be arrested for domestic violence
While the vast majority of perpetrators of domestic violence are men, women are arrested in three of every 10 incidents and men in only one of 10, a study says
Women were more likely to use a weapon, but often to protect themselves ... a victim of domestic abuse.
Photograph: Don McPhee
Men are responsible for most cases of domestic violence, but women are three times more likely to be arrested for incidents of abuse, research reveals today.
A report into domestic abuse and gender by Bristol University found that the majority of cases involved alcohol misuse, that women were more likely to use a weapon to protect themselves and that children were present in the majority of cases.
Previous research has shown that the vast majority of domestic violence perpetrators recorded by the police are men (92%) and their victims mainly female (91%), with many more repeat incidents recorded for male than female perpetrators. While the majority of incidents of domestic violence recorded by the police involve male-to-female abuse, little is known about the nature of incidents where men are recorded as victims and women as perpetrators, nor about the circumstances where both partners are recorded as perpetrators.
The new study, by professor Marianne Hester of the University of Bristol's school for policy studies and carried out on behalf of the Northern Rock Foundation, looked at 96 examples from 692 "perpetrator profiles" tracked from 2001 to 2007.
The research looked at 32 cases where women were the aggressors, 32 where men were in that role, and 32 where it was both partners.
It found that 48% of the cases were related to couples still in a relationship, 27% involved violence after separation and the rest involved couples in the process of splitting up.
Some 83% of men had at least two incidents recorded; one man had 52. In contrast, 62% of women recorded as perpetrators had only one incident recorded, and the highest number of repeat incidents for any woman was eight.
Men were significantly more likely than women to use physical violence, threats and harassment, and to damage the women's property; women were more likely to damage their own.
Men's violence tended to create a "context of fear and control", the researchers said, whereas women were more likely to use verbal abuse or some physical violence.
But women were more likely to use a weapon, although this was often to stop further violence from their partners.
All cases with seven or more incidents, most of which involved men, led to arrest.
But in general, women were three times more likely to be arrested: during the six-year period, men were arrested once in every 10 incidents and women arrested once in every three.
Issues of divorce and child contact were common in "dual perpetrator" cases, and also included the greatest number of instances where both partners were heavy drinkers.
Children were present in 55% of cases when the violence or other abuse took place. In cases involving post-separation violence, problems of child contact were cited in 30% of cases.
Hester said: "Both men and women can be violent, but there are significant differences in the way men and women use violence and abuse against their partners and also the impact of such behaviour.
"This needs to be taken into account if we want to ensure greater safety for individuals. The research has crucial lessons for the criminal justice system in this respect."
