2010-03-01

The Myth of the "Battered Husband Syndrome”

http://www.nomas.org/taskgroups/emv/

The Myth of the "Battered Husband Syndrome

Filed under Ending Men's Violence, Paper.

By Jack C. Straton, Ph.D.

The most recurrent backlash against women's safety is the myth that men are battered as often as women. Suzanne Steinmetz [1] created this myth with her 1977 study of 57 couples, in which four wives were seriously beaten but no husbands were beaten. By a convoluted thought process [2] she concluded that her finding of zero battered husbands implied that men just don't report abuse and therefore 250,000 American husbands [3] are battered each year by their wives[4], a figure that exploded to 12million in the subsequent media feeding frenzy [5].

Men have never before been shy in making their needs known, so it is peculiar that in 17 years, this supposedly huge contingent of "battered men" has never revealed itself in the flesh. Could it be that it simply does not exist? Indeed, a careful analysis of domestic violence, using everything from common experience to medical studies to U.S. National Crime Survey data, shows that only three [6]to four [7] percent of inter-spousal violence involves attacks on men by their female partners.

In the myth's latest incarnation, Katherine Dunn (The New Republic, 8/1/94) is unable to counter these hard scientific data so she turns to disputed sociological studies by Murray Straus and Richard Gelles [8,9] for "proof" that violence rates are almost equal. She first implies that these studies are unassailable by calling the authors "two of the most respected researchers in the field of domestic violence." Then she cynically attempts to undercut Straus' critics by labeling them as" advocacy groups." In fact Straus' critics are unimpeachable scientists of both genders, such as Emerson and Russell Dobash [10,11] and Edward Gondolf [12], who say his studies are bad science, with findings and conclusions that are contradictory, inconsistent, and unwarranted [13,14,15].

There are three major flaws in Straus' work. The first is that he used a set of questions that cannot discriminate between intent and effect [16]. This socalled Conflict Tactics Scale (or CTS) equates a woman pushing a man in self-defense to a man pushing a woman down the stairs [17]. It labels a mother as violent if she defends her daughter from the father's sexual molestation. It combines categories

such as "hitting" and "trying to hit" despite the important difference between them [18].

Because it looks at only one year, this study equates a single slap by a woman to a man's 15 year history of domestic terrorism. Even Steinmetz herself says the CTS studies ignore the difference between a slap that stings and a punch that causes permanent injury [19]. Indeed, after analyzing the results of the U.S. National Crime Surveys, sociologist Martin Schwartz concluded that 92% of those seeking medical care from a private physician for injuries received in a spousal assault are women [20]. The NCS study shows that one man is hospitalized for injuries received in a spousal assault for every 46 women hospitalized [21].

Even if we ignore all of the reviously mentioned flaws in Straus' CTS studies, they are bad science on a second set of grounds. Straus interviewed only one partner, but other studies [22,23] that independently interviewed both partners found that their accounts of the violence did not match. Also a study by Richard Gelles and John Harrop [24] using the CTS failed to find any difference in self-reporting of violence against children by step-parents versus birth-parents — in vivid contrast to the actual findings that a step-parent is up to 100 times more likely to assault a small child

than is a birth parent [25,26]. Any research technique that contains a 10,000 percent systematic error is totally unreliable.

In fact a third independent case can be made against Straus' study. It excluded incidents of violence that occur after separation and divorce, yet these account for 75.9 percent of spouse-on-spouse assaults, with a male perpetrator 93.3 percent of the time, according to the U.S. Department of Justice [27]. The Straus study relied on self-reports of violence by one member of each household, yet men who batter typically under-report their violence by 50 percent [28]. Finally, the CTS does not include sexual assault as a category although more women are raped by their husbands than beaten only [29]. Adjusting Straus' own statistics to include this reality makes the ratio of male to female spousal violence more than 16 to one.

Police and court records persistently indicate that women are 90 to 95 percent of the victims of reported assaults [30]. Promoters of the idea that women are just as abusive as men suggest that these results may be biased because the victims were selfreporting. But Schwartz's analysis of the1973-1982 U.S. National Crime Surveys shows that men who are assaulted by their spouses actually call the police more often than women who were assaulted by their spouses [31].

· In any case, criminal victimization surveyusing random national samples are free of any reporting bias. They give similar results

· The 1973-81 U.S. National Crime Survey, including over a million interviews, found that only 3 to 4 percent of marital assaults involved attacks on men by their female partners [32,33].

· The 1981 and 1987 Canadian surveys [34,35] found that the number of assaults of males was too low to provide reliable estimates.

· The 1982 and 1984 British surveys found that women accounted for all of the victims of marital assaults [36].

This is not to say that men are not harmed in our society, but most often men are harmed by other men. Eighty-seven percent of men murdered in the U.S. are killed by other men [37]. Those doing the killing in

every major and minor war in this and previous centuries have mostly been men! Instead of attempting to undercut services for the enormous number of women who are terrorized by their mates, those who claim to care for men had better address our real enemies; ourselves.

Of course we must have compassion for those relative few men who are harmed by their wives and partners, but it makes logical sense to focus our attention and work on the vast problem of male violence (96 percent of domestic violence) and not get side-tracked by the relatively tiny (4 percent)problem of male victimization. The biggest concern, though, is not the wasted effort on a false issue, it is the fact that batterers, like O.J. Simpson, who think they are the abused spouses are very dangerous during separation and divorce. In one study of spousal homicide, over half of the male defendants were separated from their victims [38]. Arming these men with warped statistics to fuel their already warped world view is unethical, irresponsible, and quite simply lethal.

References

[1] Suzanne Steinmetz, "The battered husband syndrome," Victimology 2, 499-509 (1978).

[2] Mildred Daley Pagelow's comprehensive history, "The 'battered husband syndrome': social problem or much ado about little," in Marital Violence, Norman Johnson,

ed., Sociological review Monograph 31 (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1985), pp. 172-195.

[3] Suzanne Steinmetz, "Wife beating, husband beating – a comparison of the use of physical violence to resolve marital fights," in M. Roy (ed.), Battered Women, (Van

Nostrand Reinhold, New York,1977), p.33.

[4] Time Magazine, "The battered husbands," March 20, 1978, p. 69.

[5] G. Storch, "Claim of 12 million battered husbands takes a beating," Miami Herald, August 7,1978, p. 16.

[6] Deirdre A. Gaquin "Spouse abuse: data from the National Crime Survey," Victimology 2,632-643 (1977/78).

[7] Martin D. Schwartz, "Gender and injury in spousal assaults," Sociological Focus 20, 61-75(1987).

[8] M.A. Straus, R. J. Gelles, and S. Steinmetz, Behind Closed Doors: Violence in the American Family, (Doubleday, 1980), p. 36.

[9] Murray A. Straus, Richard J. Gelles, J of Marriage and the Family 48, 465-479 (1986).

[10] R.E. Dobash and R.P. Dobash, "A context specific approach to researching violence," in N.Johnson (ed.), Marital Violence, Sociological review Monograph

(Newcastle, England, 1981).

[1]1 R. Emerson Dobash and Russell P. Dobash, "The Case of Wife Beating," J of Family Issues 2,439-470 (1981).

[12] Edward G. Gondolf, Social Work 32, 190 (1988).

[13] Elizabeth Pleck, Joseph H. Pleck, Marlyn Grossman, and Pauline B. Bart, Victimology 2, 680-684 (1978).

[14] M. Pagelow, "Double Victimization of battered women." Presented at the meeting of the American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, November, 1980.

[15] Daniel G. Saunders, "Other 'Truths' about Domestic Violence: A Reply to McNeely and Robinson-Simpson," Social Work 32, 179-183 (1988).

[16] P. Newton and G. Gildrnan, "Defining Domestic Violence: Violent Episode or Violent Act?" Paper presented at the American Sociological Association Conference,

Detroit, Illinois, 1983.

[17] Jann Jackson, Social Work 32, 189-190 (1988).

[18] Mildred Daley Pagelow, "The 'battered husband syndrome': social problem or much ado about little," in Marital Violence, Norman Johnson, ed., Sociological review

Monograph 31 (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1985), pp. 172-195 (see p. 178).

[19] Suzanne K. Steinmetz, Am. J. of Psychotherapy 34, 334-350 (1980).

[20] Martin D. Schwartz, "Gender and injury in spousal assaults," Sociological Focus 20, 61-75 (1987).

[21] Daniel G. Saunders, "Other 'Truths' about Domes tic Violence: A Reply to McNeely and Robinson-Simpson," Social Work 32, 179-183 (1988).

[22] Maximiliane E. Szinovacz, "Using couple data as a methodological tool: The case of marital violence," Journal of Marriage and the Family 45, 633-644 (1983).

[23] Ernest N. Jouriles and K. Daniel O'Leary, "Interspousal reliability of marital violence," Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 53, 419-421 (1985), as

analyzed in R. Emerson Dobash, Russell P. Dobash, Margo Wilson, and Martin Daly, "The Myth of Sexual Symmetry in Marital Violence," Social Problems 39, 71-91 (1992).

[24] Richard J. Gelles and John W. Harrop, "The Risk of Abusive Violence Among Children with Nongenetic Caretakers," Family Relations 40, 78-83 (1991).

[25] Martin Daly and Margo Wilson, "Evolutionary Social Psychology and Family Homicide," Science 242, 5219-524 (1988).

[26] R. Emerson Dobash, Russell P. Dobash, Margo Wilson, and Martin Daly, "The Myth of Sexual Symmetry in Marital Violence," Social Problems 39, 71-91 (1992).

[27] U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Family Violence April 1984, p. 4.

[28] J. Edleson and M. Brygger, "Gender Differences in Reporting of Battering Incidences," Family Relations 35, 377-382 (1986).

[29] Diana E. H. Russell, Rape in Marriage (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 19990), p. 90.

[30] R. Emerson Dobash, Russell P. Dobash, Margo Wilson, and Martin Daly, "The Myth of Sexual Symmetry in Marital Violence," Social Problems 39, 71-91 (1992).

[31] Martin D. Schwartz, "Gender and injury in spousal assaults," Sociological Focus 20, 61-75 (1987).

[32] Deirdre A. Gaquin "Spouse abuse: data from the National Crime Survey," Victimology 2, 632-643 (1977/78).

[33] Martin D. Schwartz, "Gender and injury in spousal assaults," Sociological Focus 20, 61-75 (1987).

[34] Solicitor General of Canada, "Female victims of crime." Canadian Urban Victimization Survey Bulletin No. 4. (Programs Branch/Research and statistics Group, Ottawa, 1985).

[35] Vincent F. Sacco and Holly Johnson, Patterns of Criminal Victimization (Statistics Canada, Ottawa, 1990).

[36] A. Worrall and Ken Pease, Patterns in Criminal Homicide: Evidence from the 1982 British crime Survey (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1986).

[37] U.S. Department of Justice, Crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Reports, 1991, pp. 17.

[38] G.W. Bernard, H. Vera, M.I. Vera, and G. Newman, "Till Death Do Us Part: A Study of Spouse Murder," Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 10 (1982).

Parental Alienation Theory (PAS)

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Custodial dad murders daughter's husband--and gets away with it

 

http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=21013

Publish Date: 3/1/2010

40 years after husband’s murder, woman still fears killer

By Pierrette J. Shields

© 2010 Longmont Times-Call

LONGMONT — Investigators have closed the case on the 40-year-old murder of Diane Dykstra’s husband, but she still looks over her shoulder for the killer to attack her.

The man she fears seeing, the man who became her bogeyman, is her father, Jake Jones. Investigators concluded he died in 1979, but after 40 years of paranoia and fear, Dykstra can well imagine ways that the body in that Oregon grave is not her father and her husband’s killer.

“I would like them to exhume the grave and do DNA,” Dykstra said.

Boulder County Sheriff’s Detective Steve Ainsworth closed the books on the 1970 homicide of 18-year-old Harold “Nicky” Nicholson this month, concluding that Jones beat his new son-in-law to death, likely with a tire iron. An Adams County deputy found Nicholson’s body stuffed into the trunk of his new car — parked near 136th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, just inside the Boulder County line — the day after he was reported missing.

Dykstra, who now lives in Oregon, said she never doubted that her biological father killed Nicholson and that the investigation was botched, leaving her to fear for her life and her loved ones’ lives for decades.

Dykstra said she moved in with her father when she was 16 to reconnect with him and because her mother and stepfather upset her when they moved the family from California and away from her friends.

“I think I have been in danger from the day I was picked up from the airport,” she said. “If he truly is not dead, I think I am still in danger.”

She said Jones began abusing her on her first day in Colorado and became enraged when she secretly married Nicholson, whom she called “just the sweetest person.”

Now 57, Dykstra said she never fell out of love with her groom, who took her to movies and McDonald’s and was a talented bass guitar player.

“His favorite (band) was The Beatles,” she said. “He was just kind of a quiet person, just very sweet.”

She wonders how her life would have been different had he lived.

“I still have a lot of emotions around that. I mean, it is so sad. It is so sad to lose a young life like that and you always wonder what your life would have been, what he would have been like,” she said. “You never fall out of love with him; it just stays there forever.”

Shortly after their wedding and after spending some time being angry, Jones suddenly changed his tune, Dykstra said. Jones arranged for the couple to buy a car, and Nicholson accompanied Jones to the car lot where Jones worked on May 23, 1970, while Dykstra was at beauty school.

She said Nicholson was supposed to pick her up in the car during her lunch hour to go for a drive, but he never showed up. She was instantly scared for him.

“He didn’t show up. I started calling around, and I didn’t find him,” she said, adding that Jones eventually picked her up and made a show of driving around to look for Nicholson.

“I am sure it was in the opposite direction,” she said.

A deputy found Nicholson’s body the next day. The last person with whom he was seen alive was Jones, who returned to his dealership with blood stains on his shirt. Investigators at the time concluded the blood was human but could not determine it as Nicholson’s.

Dykstra fled from her father within days. Over the years, she said, investigators would re-examine the case, call her and bring it all flooding back.

She returned to California after Nicholson’s death to move back in with her mother and stepfather, who also had returned to the state. Investigators over the years found that Jones had followed her and once sent her a birthday gift. On one occasion, she believes, he followed her from a job, so she stopped at a restaurant and called police.

Ainsworth was able to determine that Jones had stolen the identity of a dead Boulder man, Larry Dean Seitzinger, and had gotten involved in other crimes in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and other states. Ultimately, Jones landed in Oregon, just a couple of hours’ drive from Dykstra’s home.

Ainsworth said witnesses who knew Jones as Seitzinger said the man would brag that it wasn’t his real name. They also described Jones’ identifying characteristics, including his Marine tattoo.

Ainsworth said Jones, living under his assumed name, was killed in a 1979 boating accident. His grave has been located in Oregon.

He also obtained fingerprints from one of Jones’ arrests under the alias that conclusively determined it was Jones who was using the name.

Dykstra said she isn’t 100 percent convinced that it is Jones’ body in the grave. She said not all the bodies from the boating accident were recovered, and she worries about the outside chance that he staged his own death and that someone else is in the grave.

Ainsworth said he is convinced.

“I have no doubt in my mind that it is him,” Ainsworth said. “I think he’ll never be dead enough for her.”

Dykstra is prepared in case he is not, she said. She keeps a gun in her home that she has been trained to use.

Still, she said Ainsworth’s work has given her some peace of mind.

“They have decided that (Jones) did commit the crime. I feel like the original investigation was botched, because he should have been arrested and tried then,” she said.

Ainsworth’s cold-case work has netted big results for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. He helped identify a young woman killed in 1954 known until last year as Boulder Jane Doe. Her real name was Dorothy Gay Howard. With assistance from local historian Silvia Pettem, Ainsworth believes Howard was a victim of “Lonely Hearts Killer” Harvey Glatman.

Ainsworth is now focusing on the 1982 unsolved stabbing death of 20-year-old Susie Becker, whose body was found 4 miles west of Boulder in Boulder Canyon, and the 1977 strangulation death of 17-year-old Christine Jones, who was found in Left Hand Canyon about 3 1/2 miles from her home.

Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273 or pshields@times-call.com.

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Domestic Violence Ghost story

 

PROFILE: Historic tragedy still resonates for many

By Benita Heath | The Tribune

Published Sunday, February 28, 2010

http://www.irontontribune.com/news/2010/feb/28/historic-tragedy-still-resonates-many/

 

Photo by Jessica St. James

Even her statue looks tragic. That delicate face chiseled in limestone with its sightless eyes rests like a crown of innocence upon a small fragile body. A body that reaches out with hands mangled by the cruel act of unknown vandals years ago.

For almost 100 years that statue in Woodland Cemetery has marked the final resting place of Osa Drummond Wilson, a mother of six, who died too young, and under circumstances that may or may not have been sinister.

The truth of her death seems not to matter as much as the legend that has grown around it, a legend that believers say is manifested often upon that statue on her grave.

Whether it is apocryphal or not, the story that has haunted Osa is that pregnant with her seventh child she was brutally knocked down a flight of stairs at her home at 130 Chestnut St. in Ironton. There she lingered for about a month before dying at the age of 34.

It was a story of spousal abuse that tragically is heard all too often. But that tale is what has captured the imagination of many around the county.

Rather what they see as proof of the brutal demise is in a hand print on the side of the face and the marks on the throat of the statue that seem to come out of nowhere. So much so that to this day the allegations surrounding Osa’s death have given her the soubriquet of the “Slapped Lady.”

Just as bizarre are more otherworldly occurrences around the statue where her belly supposedly stays warm even in the coldest days of winter, as if the life Osa was carrying at her death has followed her to the grave.

Nancy Livingston has portrayed Osa many times during the Lawrence County Historical Society’s annual Ghost Walk, where the famous and infamous buried in Woodland Cemetery come back to life for an evening to tell their stories.

“I was very dramatic,” Livingston said. “I would just be sitting there talking and then would fake the slap and fall off the tombstone.”

But is Livingston a believer in the statue’s powers?

“There can be explanations for this that some don’t want to hear,” she said. “Where they say there is a handprint, it is vague. If you want to make it into a handprint you can see. Everything I have read says he was a very good husband. There is rumor and fact. You really don’t know.”

But what we do know is that Osa Wilson was born in April 1877 in Gallia County, the daughter of James T. Drummond and Missouri Neal. On Sept. 12, 1894, she married Scott William Wilson, an insurance and real estate agent who worked out of their home at First and Chestnut streets.

Today that stretch of Chestnut is vacant land. But once there were a half-dozen houses near the river’s edge before the land was turned over in the 1920s to the Ironton Stove Manufacturing Co. There it built a factory that produced ranges and heating stoves through part of the Depression.

On Jan. 26, 1911, Osa fell ill and went under the care of Dr. O.U. O’Neill, who treated the young women until her death about a month later on Feb. 25, 1911.

“The spirit of Mrs. Scott W. Wilson was called from the weary struggles of this world to receive its heavenly reward early Saturday morning, after a four weeks’ illness from a complication of diseases,” her death notice stated.

“No hope of her recovery had been entertained the past week, but the knowledge could not soften the blow when it finally fell,” according to the notice. “Her life can well be cited as an example of the highest type of the home-loving wife and mother. Ever a faithful, loving helpmate and the most devoted of mothers, her loss is almost unbearable to the sorrowing husband and the six little children who have lost their best earthly friend.”

Her funeral was two days later at the Pine Street Methodist Church where she had regularly worshipped with the pastor, the Rev. A.R. Henderson, officiating.

There are no records or public accounts of Scott ever questioned in any manner about his wife’s death. In fact, her death certificate lists the primary cause for her demise as neuritis with colitis as the contributing factor.

Could these be the ailments that result from the fall? There is nothing definitive in any of the evidence to prove a case one way or the other.

“Neuritis is a catchall term,” according to Dr. John Walden of the Marshall University Medical School. “It really doesn’t say a whole lot.”

The term, which was used in the early 1900s in basically the same way as it is today, means an inflammation of a nerve accompanied by pain and loss of function, Walden said. It can be a single nerve or large number of nerves.

“It would be an unlikely thing to describe someone with an injury and describe neuritis,” he said. “I don’t think there would be any reason to tie these two diagnoses to that event. But I wasn’t there. I don’t know what the doctor was thinking when he wrote those diagnoses. I don’t think without any other information, you can’t draw any conclusions.”

A little bit more is known about Scott, who lived 18 years longer than his first wife. Much of that is thanks to the genealogical research done by Carolyn Marie Hines of Leesville, S.C., who is related to Scott through his mother’s side, the Foldens.

Hines has posted much of her research on the standard genealogical Web sites as well as on her own Web site

Scott was four years older than Osa, born in Lawrence County on Feb. 5, 1873. His parents were James H. and Malissa Folden. Like Osa, Malissa Folden was born in Gallia County and married Scott’s father two days before Christmas in 1866.

The couple took up residence in the Ironton area and are both buried at Mt. Hermon United Brethren Cemetery. James died in 1891, but Malissa lived just a few months shy of her son’s death.

The couple had four children, three sons and a daughter, with Scott the oldest.

He became one of the leading businessmen in Ironton, with his offices at his new home at Fifth Street and Park Avenue, across from where Christ Episcopal Church is today.

“He was a builder in all senses of the word,” a newspaper account of his death stated. “He was active in the incorporation, platting and growth of the village of Melrose, below the C. and O. workings at Raceland. He carried on an extensive insurance business in addition to his countless real estate transactions.”

He was a leader in his church, the First Methodist Episcopal where he was a trustee. He was also a member of the Elks Lodge.

On Nov. 6, 1929, Scott Wilson succumbed to the illness that had caused failing health for six weeks. The last two weeks of his life he spent in the Marting Hospital. The death certificate states the cause was septicemia, or blood poisoning.

“Mr. Wilson was a man with courage in his convictions and he was beloved by his family, admired by his friends and highly regarded by all with whom he came in connection. His death comes as a bolt to both city and county residents,” his obit states.

A little over a year after Osa’s death, Scott remarried, to a Louisa, Ky., widow, Lou Price Wilson. He left the new Mrs. Wilson their house on Park Avenue as long as she did not remarry, $3,500 from the sale of the Rucker Farm in Mason Township, all the household goods coming from the marriage; and 50 percent of a life insurance policy. The children he had with Osa would inherit the other half, which would give each $5,000. This is according to his will filed in Lawrence County Probate Court on Nov. 12, 1929, before Judge Helen P. Clarke.

His diamond stick pin went to his son, Hollis, and his diamond ring was to be sold with the proceeds going into the estate, unless any child wanted to buy it for $800.

Those children of Osa have passed on and their descendants scattered. If any knew of the legend about their mother and grandmother, they have kept their counsel.

Now all that remains are a legend and a statue that may or may not speak the truth.

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Dad claims "suicide pact" in his stabbing of 17-year-old "raped" daughter (Aberaeon, Wales)

By DastardlyDads

How stupid or gullible does dad GARY FISHER think the public is?

He would have us believe that he stabbed his 17-year-old daughter to death under a "suicide pact" formed after the daughter became depressed after being raped. She was suffering, you see, and Daddy just wanted to help her.

Um yea. If you believe that, contact me regarding some investment "opportunities."

More interesting facts (if you read further):

1) The daughter had never filed a rape report with the police, and no one else seems to recall a report of a rape either.

2) Mom and dad were separated.

3) Dad (in what is a typical abuser/control freak fashion) calls the daughter a "slag" ("slut" for American readers) because she wants to spend time with her boyfriend, not Dad. Very intimidating thing for abusers, letting their teen daughters grow up and live their own lives. In fact, Dad's reaction is just about classic. Can't have all that, you know.

It was on a visit shortly after that "dispute" that Dad stabbed her to death in a dark area of a parking lot.

In other words, this is not a "pact" murder-suicide, or even a failed "pact, in any way, shape, or form.

However, it is typical of father-committed murders that take place during child visitation (or access). Any sign that the former partner or children are exerting independence from the father's obsessive control must be put down and "punished" with violence.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254641/Suicide-pact-father-killed-raped-daughter-17--car-end-suffering.html

'Suicide pact father killed raped daughter, 17, in car to end her suffering'

By Luke Salkeld

Last updated at 3:56 PM on 01st March 2010

'Pact': Sasha Jones, 17, was stabbed to death and her body was found in the footwell of a car near Aberaeron, Wales

A father claims he stabbed his teenage daughter to death and left her dead body in the passenger seat of his car because she wanted to die after being raped.

Gary Fisher says he entered into a 'suicide pact' with 17-year-old Sasha Jones after she was sexually assaulted.

The 47-year-old killed his daughter by stabbing her repeatedly with a hunting knife and then called members of her family to confess what he had done, a court heard.

He then led police on a country car chase with Sasha's dead body in the passenger seat which ended when officers lay a 'stinger' device across a road, causing Fisher to crash.

Today prosecutors dismissed Fisher's claim that his daughter had wanted to die after suffering a sex attack, and that he acted to 'end her suffering'.

Prosecutor Chris Clee QC said Fisher had confessed to hospital staff that he had killed his daughter with the hunting knife.

He said: '[Fisher] said his daughter told him she wanted to die. He said he planned it for the last two and a half months.

'He said "I felt she was suffering and I wanted to help her to die".'

The court heard Fisher later claimed to police that his daughter had been raped - and she 'couldn't live with the thought of that'.

But Mr Clee told Swansea Crown Court: 'Sasha made no such complaint to police.'

The court heard the teenager had twice been admitted to hospital in the past after taking overdoses - but medical staff did not believe they were genuine suicide attempts.

The court heard Fisher was separated from Sasha's mother Jane Jones, who lived with her three children in Cardigan, West Wales.

Fisher, who lived in Solihull, West Midlands, had last summer argued with Sasha and called her a 'slag' after she wanted to be with her boyfriend instead of him.

It was during a visit to see his daughter in August that they drove around the local area before stopping in a pub car park where the killing took place, the court heard.

Mr Clee continued: '[Fisher] stopped the car behind the Angel Hotel in a shady area so nobody could see him.'

The court heard Fisher later told police: 'I got out of the car, took the knife, went to the passenger door and opened it.

'She was shocked to see the knife and tried to get away. But she couldn't because of the seat belt.'

Mr Clee said: 'He said he stabbed her many times and she was struggling. During the struggle, he missed her once and ended up stabbing himself in the arm.

'He said he covered her with a sleeping bag and reclined the seats.'

The court heard Fisher drove around with her bloodied body in the car but then rang his sister Susan Mabbatt to confess to killing Sasha.

But the telephone was answered by his niece Zoe Mabbatt, 16, whom he told: 'I'm really sorry but I've done something wrong.'

The court heard Zoe asked what had happened and Fisher replied: 'I don't think you want to know.'

He then rang back to tell her: 'I'm sorry but I've just killed your eldest cousin. She is lying in the car freezing.'

Police were alerted by the family and his silver Ford Fiesta was spotted near the seaside village of Aberaeron.

He refused to stop and police pursued his car. A stinger device was put in the roadway and Fisher crashed into a camper van moments later.

Mr Clee said Fisher claimed it was a 'suicide pact' between the father and daughter.

He said: 'But this wasn't in any way, shape or form a suicide pact. It is simply an attempt by him to avoid his responsibility for what he did.'

Fisher denies murder. The trial continues.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254641/Suicide-pact-father-killed-raped-daughter-17--car-end-suffering.html#ixzz0gwQxcjtO

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20/20 Diane Sawyer on Domestic Violence [Warning graphic content]

[vodpod id=Video.52126&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJfIZZqOnMM&autoplay=&fs=1&showinfo=0&showsearch=0&rel=0&]

Parental Alienation Theory (PAS)

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RADAR ALERT: WE CRY LIKE BABIES IF NOBODY BELIEVES OUR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DRIVEL

RightsForMothers.com

FILED IN: ACTIVISM, CANADA, CAROLYN GREGOIRE, CORRUPT BASTARDS, DESPERATE MEN, DOMESTIC ABUSE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, RADAR, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) whined and whined about this student newspaper article from McGill University (Canada)….they did make a couple changes, but RADAR still is not happy.  Overall I thought it was an accurate, thoughtful piece of journalism.  RADAR is the organization that basically claims that all women and children lie about abuse.

The McGill Tribune, 12/1/2009

OFF THE BOARD: The fight for men’s rights

by Carolyn Gregoire

Discrimination against men has, understandably perhaps, never occupied a prominent position on the feminist agenda. Recently, however, the rise of the men’s rights movement has led men’s rights groups and feminists alike to call issues specific to male identity into question. A recent article on Slate’s women-oriented webzine DoubleX entitled “Men’s Rights Groups are Becoming Frighteningly Effective” has spurred contentious debate extending beyond the feminist blogosphere as to whether feminism should encompass issues of men’s rights.

The article was triggered by the actions of men’s activist group RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) who gathered in Washington this October to lobby against issues such as false allegations of rape and domestic violence, unrecognized domestic violence against men, and child custody rights for divorced fathers.

Many women, and not only those who identify as feminists, are outraged by the measures these groups have taken. Rather than addressing the negative impact that patriarchy and gender stereotypes have on men and calling for change, RADAR chooses instead to undermine the prevalence of rape and domestic violence against women. Relying on hyperbolic claims and sensationalism – suggesting, for instance, that domestic violence laws represent “the largest regression in civil rights since the Jim Crow era” – RADAR succeeded in blocking the passage expansion of several domestic violence bills, such as the Violence Against Women act. [*Correction appended] It is also worth noting that many of the movement’s leaders are themselves accused batterers.

Though issues of men’s rights and injustice towards men deserve attention, the anti-feminist approach employed by RADAR and many other men’s rights groups in battling these issues is counterproductive and alarmingly reactionary. RADAR’s attempt to take funding away from “discriminatory” women’s-only shelters, rather than fighting for resources for male victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment, epitomizes this ineffectual methodology.

While it’s true that all human rights are men’s rights and that history is essentially a men’s rights movement, discrimination against men should be a feminist concern because male and female rights are inextricably intertwined. Though a patriarchal society operates for male benefit, societal standards of masculinity are also harmful to men in real ways which deserve to be acknowledged. Rigid definitions of masculinity which narrowly cast men into aggressive, machismo, bread-winning roles are damaging to men, and further, they are damaging to men in ways that are also damaging to women. Following this line of reasoning, many feminists fight for fathers’ rights as a means of countering the socially sanctioned notion that nurturer or caregiver must be a female-occupied role. A central objective of the feminist movement is debunking gender stereotypes, even when they apply only to men.

Male victims of sexual harassment, domestic violence, and rape deserve to be recognized and taken seriously, mothers should not be unjustly favoured over fathers in child custody proceedings, and individuals of both genders do not deserve to be systemically limited and harmed by rigid social definitions of masculinity. Feminist concerns and men’s rights are not mutually exclusive, and should meet on the common ground of seeking gender equality – the irony of it all is that we’re both fighting the same battle. As feminist Gloria Anzaldua suggests, “Men, even more than women, are fettered to gender roles … We need a new masculinity and the new man needs a movement.”

Correction: The article’s original version claimed that RADAR had blocked the passage of several domestic violence bills, including the Violence Against Women act. In fact, RADAR helped block the expansion of these bills. Also, the Tribune apologizes for previously claiming that many of RADAR’s leaders were accused batterers.

Read the excellent Double X article here.

 

Parental Alienation Theory (PAS)

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2010-02-28

Kansas: Domestic Violence Survivor & Mother who Testified Against the State has Felony Warrant Issued Against her for Wanting To see Her Babies!!

  1. KansasWatchdog Warrant out in Wichita for arrest of Cecelia Arnold for trying to see her kids. Reform badly needed. VIDEO: http://tinyurl.com/yj4y2ltabout 2 hours
  2. KansasWatchdog

    Warrant out in Wichita for arrest of Cecelia Arnold for trying to see her kids. Reform badly needed. AUDIO:http://tinyurl.com/ygksbyx

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU_WszxKZSo&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

 How can wanting to see your child whom the mother has never physically harmed be a felony, but yet, domestic violence, battery on another person (a physical crime, potentially fatal, bond $2,500.00)  is only a misdemeanor?????????  $10,000.00 bond

Listen to Cecillia Arnold:http://tinyurl.com/ygksbyx

Warrant Details  

ARNOLD , CECELLIA L
Race: B Sex: F Age: 24
Height: 506 Weight: 150
Hair: BLK Eyes: BRO

Warrant Id: 92696
Court Case No.: 2009CR003679
Type: ARREST WARRANT
Charge: INTERFERENCE W/PARENTAL CUSTODY; OTHER THAN JOINT CUSTODY
Felony/Misdemeanor: F
Bond: $10,000.00

 

Compelling stories from parents and grandparents about problems with placement and removal of children

By Earl Glynn On December 4, 2009

Abused mom Cecillia Arnold lost her parental rights. She wants her kids back.

“I did all court orders and my girls were placed back home with me”

“The case workers changed many times. I couldn’t get through to them sometimes.”

“The reintegration itself … was going well”

“I had stability. I had a home. I had a job. I had everything that they would ask someone to do for reintegration to occur.”

“My abuser … was going to jail at the time at the time the girls were removed from home. He was incarcerated for, I think, it was two years for the crime he committed against me.”

“The girls were removed from home for the second time.”

“The assistant [Sedgwick County] DA … filed a petition for termination [of parental rights], and after … the trial termination was granted.”

“As of now I have not seen my children since March of this year”

“During the trial I had testimony from different people — the foster care parents … — their testimony was overlooked.”

“… bad experiences with DCCA …”

“They said the reason for termination was … me not following the reintegration plan. That was not true.”

“… the ball got dropped on me from the Agency that was contracted through the courts … They didn’t do the job that they were supposed to do, which resulted in my girls being removed from home”

Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau: “Her parents are in the audience … They have been denied custody of their grandchildren, too, and told there were too old; they were too sick.”

State Rep Bill Otto (R-LeRoy): “Your rights are severed?”

Arnold: “My rights have been terminated … I have no rights to my children. I have not seen them since March. I filed an appeal that didn’t go anywhere. I’m here today because I want my children back.” …

Otto: “Where was your lawyer?” …

Arnold: “I had court-appointed attorneys … I feel I could have done a better job representing myself” ..

Otto: “This should not happen to anybody … I’m so sorry.” …

Chair Kiegerl: “Your problem mainly is with the courts, although, I’m sure, the agency’s testimony was instrumental in the decision. … My heart goes out to you …I wish there were a magic wand that … we could use to solve your problem.”

Arnold left in tears.

Listen to Cecillia Arnold:http://tinyurl.com/ygksbyx

Watch this Kansas Watchdog YouTube Video of Arnold explaining her case.

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SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: MATERNAL CARE MATTERS FOR CHILDREN

RightsForMothers.com

 

FILED IN: CHILD CUSTODY, CHILD CUSTODY FOR FATHERS, CHILDREN'S RIGHTS, GUSTAVO TURECKI,MATERNAL DEPRIVATION, MICHAEL MEANEY, MOSHE SZYF, MOTHER CHILD RELATIONSHIP, MOTHERLESS CHILDREN, MURDER, MURDER - SUICIDE, NONCUSTODIAL MOTHERS, PATRICK MCGOWEN, ROBERT HAWKINS,SCIENTIFIC STUDIES, SUICIDE

More on maternal deprivation. A study completed at McGill Universityconfirms maternal care has an effect on children. Imagine not having that maternal care…being deprived of your mother, and how it affects future suicide victims.

Remember Robert Hawkins, the boy who shot up the mall in Omaha, Nebraska.  His father had custody of him:

Throughout most of his life, he and his family were plagued by his psychiatric problems. The day after he turned 14, he was sent to a mental health treatment center for threatening to kill his stepmother with an axe.

Robert HawkinsRobert Hawkins

Four months later, he became a ward of the State of Nebraska, which lasted nearly four years. He had undergone two psychiatric hospitalizations, and was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, an unspecified mood disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and parent-child relationship problems. His extensive treatments cost the state USD$265,000.

On December 5th 2007,  Robert Hawkins, went to Westroads Mall in Omaha and fired against employees and customers in a department store, killing eight people and then he killed himself.

Maribel Rodriguez, Robert’s mother said in interviews she was deeply devastated. She hasn’t had custody of her son since Robert was around 4 years old but she said that had a good relationship with her son and felt the obligation to apologize for what he did. Robert was without hope, without faith and without courage she added.

Who was the first one he told “I love you” on his suicide note?  Mommy.  This is what maternal deprivation gets you.  Now, the information from the study…

Childhood trauma has life-long effect on genes and the brain

Study confirms effects of early environment in brains of suicide victims

McGill University and Douglas Institute scientists have discovered that childhood trauma can actually alter your DNA and shape the way your genes work. This confirms in humans earlier findings in rats, that maternal care plays a significant role in influencing the genes that control our stress response.

Using a sample of 36 brains; 12 suicide victims who were abused; 12 suicide victims who were not abused and 12 controls, the researchers discovered different epigenetic markings in the brains of the abused group. These markings influence the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function, a stress-response which increases the risk of suicide.

This research builds upon findings published last May that showed how child abuse can leave epigenetic marks on DNA.

But, in this, the first study of its kind, Moshe Szyf, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Gustavo Turecki, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry who practices at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute; Michael Meaney, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery, who is also at the Douglas; and McGill postdoctoral research fellow Patrick McGowan have built on their world-renowned epigenetics work to uncover how parental care affects the DNA in the brains of a group of Quebec male suicide victims who suffered abuse as children. The all-McGill study is set to be published in the February 22, issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

“We know from clinical experience that a difficult childhood can have an impact on the course of a person’s life”, said Dr. Turecki.
“Now we are starting to understand the biological implications of such psychological abuse,” added Dr. Szyf.

“The function of our DNA is not as fixed as previously believed, said Dr. Meaney. “The interaction between the environment and the DNA plays a crucial role in determining our resistance to stress thus the risk for suicide. Epigenetic marks are the product of this interaction.”

Epigenetics is the study of changes in the function of genes that don’t involve changes in the sequences of DNA. The DNA is inherited from our parents; it remains fixed throughout life and is identical in every part of the body. During gestation and even later in development, however, the genes in our DNA are marked by a chemical coating called DNA methylation. These marks are somewhat sensitive to one’s environment, especially early in life. The epigenetic marks punctuate the DNA and program it to express the right genes at the appropriate time and place.

The researchers discovered that maternal care influences hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function in the rat through epigenetic programming of certain receptors in the brain. In humans, child abuse alters HPA stress responses and increases the risk for suicide.

In previous studies in laboratory rats, the group proved that simple maternal behaviour such as mothers who licked their pups during early childhood has a profound effect on the epigenetic marks on specific genes and effects on behaviour in ways that are sustained throughout life. However, these effects on gene expression and stress responses can also be reversed in adult life through treatments known to affect the epigenetic mark known as DNA methylation.

The brain samples in the latest study came from the Quebec Suicide Brain Bank, administered by Dr. Turecki of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. With the support of the Bureau du Coroner du Québec (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner), the McGill Group for Suicide Studies (MGSS) founded the Quebec Suicide Brain Bank (QSBB) at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, to promote studies on the phenomenon of suicide. Research carried out on brain tissue can help develop intervention and prevention programs to help people suffering mental distress and who are at risk of committing suicide.

The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Development (USA).

Please visit McGill’s website for this story.

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