We in Aotearoa/New Zealand have been following this case on our news for some days now and I am growing more and more appalled, and I am sure I am not the only one.
It is completely bizarre, that a man who drove to his girlfriends' home, and took with him a nice sharp knife, on arriving, exchanged greetings with her mother, then walked upstairs to the young woman's room, and stabbed her (not once but two hundred and sixteen times, including slicing off her ears and hacking her nose even), claims provocation
PROVOCATION if you please - as a defence.He, Clayton Weatherston, even has a woman lawyer. I'm shocked that he can stand there bare-faced and have that woman lawyer argue provocation as his defence and that this woman lawyer (who really should know better) would agree to bring such a defence to our courts of law.
Imagine if he is found Not Guilty because of this so-called provocation. Could every NZ male now decide to stab a woman 216 times (that's two hundred and sixteen times and don't forget the ears) and plead provocation? Will provocation now become a defence again, for men who beat up their partners? Could violent parents (having lost the ability to plead reasonable force when they belt up their kids with horsewhips and the like) now insist on provocation as a defence instead?
It seems to me we have another piece of law which requires repealing. Where is Sue Bradford when we need her.
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