SebastianBlue
President, International Julian Alvarez Fan Club
- Joined
- 25 Jul 2009
- Messages
- 57,736
And, sadly, this is extremely common in domestic violence cases. In fact, it is not uncommon for the first violent offence charge for a domestic abuser to be manslaughter/murder as those most often cannot be refuted. Or for the abusee to be charged with manslaughter/murder when they take matters in to their own hands after their families and/or the legal system have failed them.I think the problem was that Greenwood's partner was unwilling to testify. So as long as the defence team could come up with some remotely plausible excuse for the incident, there would be no grounds to pursue the case.
It is a tragic state of affairs and, despite various attempted reforms to improve the situation, the nature of domestic abuse (whereby those being abused often act against their own long-term self-interest because of fears of grave short-term--and even possible long-term--consequences) makes it very difficult to resolve. It is especially challenging because the culture of domestic abuse (i.e. parents of those being abused protecting the abuser because they themselves committed or allowed domestic abuse) often insulates abusers, as I think it did in this case from what I have read.
It is sometimes difficult for those that have never experienced domestic abuse to understand how difficult it is to not only imagine an escape from it but act on a plan to manage that escape.
It is all infuriating and I feel for the woman.