New Zealand Husband’s and Wife’s long term marriage reportedly breaks down.
Wife reportedly plans to divorce Husband.
Husband is believed to have “eavesdropped” on text messages in Wife’s cell phone, and gotten wind of Wife’s intentions.
Husband allegedly murders Wife with a shotgun.
Husband apparently defends that he did not mean to hurt Wife. With his shotgun.
Husband is convicted of murdering Wife.
Husband is sentenced for murdering Wife.
11 years. $65,000 restitution to Wife’s parents and two children.
Critics of the sentence, who reportedly include numerically significant members of the New Zealand legal profession, are, quite vocally, predicting that a sentence so light virtually invites murder as a pragmatic alternative to divorce.
Meanwhile, domestic violence experts are speaking out to draw attention to the prudence of abuse victims:
- not tipping off their abusers as to their intentions of leaving them and
- having a solid plan for their children’s and their own safe escape from the relationship and the home, including important papers and personal items
It is believed that Wife’s family may also be considering a civil suit for additional damages from Husband and/or appealing Husband’s sentence.
Read more in this New Zealand Herald article: Meads sentence sets ‘dangerous precedent’.
