A man found guilty of assaulting his wife was put on probation last week, with a condition that he attend a domestic violence intervention programme.
Attorney Keith Collins spoke on behalf of the defendant, Danny Randall. He said. Randall wanted to reconcile, but his wife was not interested in continuing the relationship.
Before the incident that led to court, there had been other arguments that involved physical violence, Mr. Collins said. The root cause of the problem had been jealousy.
Magistrate Margaret Ramsay-Hale spoke to the defendant before passing sentence. ‘You can’t beat someone into loving you,’ she told him.
‘If you don’t like the way the woman carries herself, leave her. You may beat her into fearing you but that is neither love nor respect.’
The magistrate noted that there is still a culture in which men believe they can beat their wives and children for discipline.
In this case, as summarised by Mr. Collins, the defendant had dropped his wife off at a party. When he went to pick her up, he did not like her behaviour of drinking and dancing with other men. The couple got into an argument in the car. Randall had said he hit his wife because she hit him, but the magistrate found that he was the aggressor after hearing the evidence in trial.
Mr. Collins noted that a social inquiry report had recommended probation with attendance at the domestic violence programme and individual counselling, if necessary.
The magistrate told Randall, ‘The question is do we lock you up or do we work with you in a community setting?’ One factor to consider was the likelihood that Randall would at some point become involved in another relationship.
In making her decision, the magistrate said Randall must not think a probation order is an easy option. If he breaches it, he might still be imprisoned.
‘Neither must the public be confused, because I must make it clear we have little tolerance in this jurisdiction for domestic violence,’ she cautioned.
In addition to probation with the attendance order, the magistrate imposed a cost order for $500 to cover costs incurred by the prosecution and for supervision.
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