Murder or manslaughter

Does having a mental illness excuse murder ?

MissAdventure, the woman was not in her right mind. She had what's known as an adjustment disorder which is an abnormality of the mind that impairs her mental responsibility for her acts.

In other words she'd gone through so much psychological abuse in her marriage that her mind was in such a state that she wasn't responsible for her actions when she murdered her husband.

She now has to live with that for the rest of her life and whether she finds peace of mind remains to be seen. At least her sons are there for her.

If it was premeditated, regardless of the reasons why, then it's murder, in my opinion.

Yes smileless just read your post. ?.

Anniebach. Who knows what was in her mind at that time. Abuse emotional really does make you ill yourself. And yes some women do go back to their abuser time after time.
It’s soul destroying.

when I was involved with a woman’s refuge here, some women seeking refuge still met their partners on the quiet.

I wonder if there was to be no reconciliation and her mind was so damaged she still wanted to be back with him

I agree Granniesunite which is why I posted earlier 'kill or be killed'.

Emotional Abuse in all its forms is a “Killer “in itself. It destroys a person from the inside and it can take decades to recover from it if indeed a person ever does at all.

Time is no healer in these cases.

Because there are no physical signs it makes it harder to understand which in a way makes it harder for the person who experiences it.

It was her or him probably in her mind and the sons were totally behind her.

Then you'll be aware Bluebell that many women, despite finding safety in refuges do go back to their abuser.

Yes i think it was right. But it is a big reason to not put up with a bad marriage.
She married far too young and couldn't face being alone.
She had buried all her true emotions for a lifetime. never a good plan.

Look I haven’t read up on the case but I have personal experience and have worked with many abused women I know of NO ONE who has killed or even come close to thinking of killing their abuser once they ve managed to leave If she got away from an abusive relationship why did she go back to talk to him with a hammer in her bag Sounds totally premeditated to me
hette who walks around with a hammer in their bag to defend themselves ? If she’s that frightened of him she wouldn’t be meeting him a year later yes it’s very hard to get away from a controlling abuser but once away most women would want to stay away that’s why they go to refuges for safety

Yes, mental abuse can be as devastating as physical violence. The woman was mentally ill as a result of her treatment. Stockholme syndrome puts it most simply.

You don't have to be physically violent to abuse, manipulate, control and destroy another human being.

He wasn't physically violent

As is usually the case in all abusive relationships Hetty 'you made me do it'.

The victim often firmly believes that the problem is due to their own behaviour. They think it's their fault for upsetting the violent one!

Urmstongran it would have been classed as her having diminished responsibility---the reason the CPS had changed the charge from murder to manslaughter.
Apparently her medical evidence wasn't presented at her original trial which would have showed that the woman was mentally unwell.

If he had a history of unprovoked violence she possibly felt she needed to protect herself. Hard to understand why she would want to reconcile with him. Human emotions are very puzzling sometimes.

What Smileless said. She should never have been convicted of murder. Balance of her mind disturbed

It's another of those cases where a woman is treated more harshly than a man would probably have been. Look at all the cases where en are convicted of manslaughter because eg. their victim had an affair/tormented them about their behaviour etc

The support she's had from her sons says it all really.

If they were discussing reconciliation why would she think she needed to defend herself

The question is whether she took the hammer with the intention of killing him. She may well have taken it to defend herself, hurt him or attack another person - in which case it would be manslaughter.

Stockholm syndrome!! Being totally dependant and in her case 'in love' with her captor and abuser. Yes, they were living apart but emotionally I doubt she could ever have been free of him.

During her trail I was 100% behind her and over the moon when she was released. But watching the documentary I started to have second thoughts.

If you carry a weapon you intend to use it, either consciously or unconsciously. If that hammer had been laying on the worktop and she just saw red and lost it I could understand.
I would not liked to have been on the jury.

But EV she said she attacked him because no one else could then have him. She took a hammer with her. Premeditated.

The woman snapped, simple as that. After having suffered years of mental torment and was never known to have a violent nature the verdict had to be manslaughter as it would never have been her intent to " murder " the man she had loved.

I too think manslaughter was the correct verdict. I think the many years of abuse had put her in such a muddle that she hardly knew what she was doing. She still seemed a bit zoned out after she was free.