Fortunately, the judge took little notice of the justification and sentenced the culprit to 17 years in jail. He called it a senseless, needless death which was followed by needless serious injury to the victim's daughter.
What occurred was the result of an utterly unnecessary outpouring of anger, he said.
Violence is never love and it is never passion.
Connecting it with those two emotions is a cop-out that has to stop, even by lawyers looking to defend the indefensible.
But violence is usually anger, and that seems to be the crux of the matter. Seething anger and frustration is channelled into abuse and violence, usually within the family.
Anger and violence are often seen as the same thing, with no steps in between.
However, violence is also often learned behaviour and with the help of the White Ribbon campaign and other measures, it can be unlearned.
The White Ribbon march in Wanganui on Saturday deserves support as does the White Ribbon Whanganui Action Group, which started about four months ago. Hopefully it will make a difference.
Feedback: editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
