Courts must protect victims and hold violent offenders accountable for their behaviour, that’s the opinion of Brian Gardner of the National Network of Stopping Violence Services.

Mr Gardner was commenting on the sentence of a former Whakatane police prosecutor who received only 150 hours for assaulting his wife, a general practitioner. 

He says reported comments of the judge and lawyers send signals that it’s alright to blame the woman and minimise the responsibility of the man.

“Provocation and stress are no excuse for a man to assault a woman or child.  Men in this situation need to take responsibility for handling their anger and stress.  They need to find solutions that don’t hurt themselves or the ones they love.”

Mr Gardner says domestic violence needs to be taken seriously and he’s concerned that the husband continued to deny his offending despite being found guilty by a jury on the assault charges. 

“Men use violence to control and scare others do it to get the behaviour they want.  If his relationship rulebook says its okay to hit his partner, he will.  Facing up to violence is the first step to rewriting that rulebook.”

For further information please contact:

Brian Gardner,

National Manager

Te Kupenga Whakaoti Mahi Patunga – the National Network of Stopping Violence Services 

027 452 9556