DON’T CRY PROVOCATION

FORMER justice minister Christlyn Moore says legislation needs to be amended to remove the defence of provocation when it comes to spousal murder.

Moore, in a telephone interview with Newsday on Wednesday, said she is in favour of removing the defence altogether but wants it to begin with spousal murder to address domestic violence killings. The comment comes a day after the tenth woman was murdered for the year by a male companion.

Reshma Kanchan, 25, was hacked to death by a man while on her way to work on Tuesday. He tried to take his own life after the attack. Kanchan lived at Laltoo Trace in Penal with her two daughters, five and two, her 50-year-old mother, Davica Kanchan, and other relatives.

Moore said there is a universal swing for personal responsibility and the amendment to the current legislation will foster that growing trend. “A grown adult should not be able to say that another grown adult goaded. This is not what should happen in a civilised society and that ought to be removed for spousal murder.”

Also commenting on the call for legislative change was senior counsel Sophia Chote who said changing legislation seems like a panacea to fixing many issues in society.

“Provocation is only an issue that can be raised on the evidence in a capital offence. It is not a complete defence. People will have to overcome several hurdles before that can be used,” the senior counsel said.

Chote added: “I can’t recall anyone successfully using provocation as a defence. We don’t have the data to change the law. For example, there is no data that says 20 men got off of spousal murder because they used provocation as a defence. We just don’t have that data.”

She pointed out Section 4B of the Offences Against the Person Act allows for provocation but highlighted that in the case of spousal murder, it is unlikely that an abuser can meet the legislative requirements to use that argument successfully to justify murder.

Moore, in her reasoning said in many cases of spousal murder the killer is male and the victim female. She said the use of the provocation defence is sending the wrong message to society which is “sanctioned by law to justify a spouse killing another.”

“The killer is the only person that can give evidence of this provocation which is inherently unjust. You can’t vilify the victim, something is wrong with that. We have to look at a multi-sectored way of addressing domestic violence. What more can the laws do?”

Attorney General, Faris Al Rawi said before he made amendments to the Domestic Violence Act, he had consultations with various stakeholders and that issue (striking off the provocation defence) was never raised.

“I am in full support of amendments but that to me is a very far left field position. The key is prevention,” Al Rawi said adding that his government has made significant strides in addressing the issue of gender-based violence, legislatively and otherwise.

Chote said a better idea will be to have murder defined in degrees so that if an abused person, ailing with battered spouse syndrome kills their attacker, they will not be punished with execution but a punishment befitting the crime, given the extenuating circumstances.

Chote, a former independent senator also highlighted the lack of protection in same sex unions under the current domestic violence legislation as a cause for concern.