BBCMisogyny tasered man, no mention of murdered woman victim

I think the today programme got it wrong but under the circs maybe it's understandable - and they mostly get it right.

I'm now just relieved they didn't say; "in the news this morning...'a man (probably a victim of mental health issues) has unfortunately died after being tasered by the police in a hostel for ex offenders. This raises important questions about the use of tasering in the area."

He did lie to her, he said he was going to get her a cab from there.

BIWI's point basically translates to 'we expect women to be murdered, at the rate of more or less one a day, by men they know, or met recently. It's much more worthy if report when the man does it in an unusual way.' And I know what they mean. But, yes, it's a feminist issue.

That is absolutely not what I meant. Don't try and put words into my mouth.

Cherries Yes, possibly, or he lied to her about where he was living, who the hell knows. Poor woman.

I agree that it's a good thing there hasn't been much in the way of victim-blaming in the press. However, I do struggle to understand why anyone would choose to go home to a hostel for recently released prisoners with someone they'd just met.

User of taser "probably justified"? Yup, I reckon that if a policer officer as we now know comes upon a man sitting on a woman's chest eating her face, using a taser was "probably" justified. Probably as in too damn right it was.

BobbyDarin

I agree. I recall reading too that Gwent Constabulary uses tazer more often than the other Welsh ones (there are 3 others). In this particular case, I think its use was probably justified - but there are questions to answer as to how it seemingly caused a death.

I think that consideration of the police process and ascertaining whether he had any mental health problems / why he was not being monitored after release are all important but generally they come once the intitial shock of such a horrible crime has worn off a bit.

It is not usual behaviour in the UK media or society for the main immediate focus on news that a woman has been murdered and cannibalised to be on police use of tasers and I don't see that as a valid explanation of what the OP was objecting to TBH.

Back to the word, 'victim' again, then.

I'm not that tied up to the word itself for it to matter that much to me. I'm happy to withdraw it - maybe he was 'suffering' instead

But at the same time, it seems to me, that that if he was suffering from a mental illness that in some way contributed to his death as well as that of his victim, then I'm capable of sympathy for both.

I don't think anyone would want to detract from the awfulness of Cerys Marie Yemm's death, or the savageness of her killer.

The reason why the reporting has focused on her killer's death, in my view, is that we have all been told that tasers are safe, non-lethal weapons for the police to use. The police have the right to use tasers on you and me.

So why did he die? Was it because of something specific about him and a medical condition we might not know about? Was it because the taser was misused? Was it because he was so frantic and violent during the arrest that he had to be tasered for a very long time, and that killed him? These are reasonable questions to ask and they could potentially affect any of us.

Special, I think that's true now, but when I first heard about the story it was "two people dead after police tasering incident", then a small piece on a man having been killed by police when they tasered him. I agree that now the story is much more focussed on the victim of crime now.

Cadno, given that such a high proportion on the prison population has MH problems, I'd be more surprised if he didn't. Most people with MH problems manage not to eat people they've just met though, so not sure of the relevance. People are placed in the hostel (from what I've read about it) because they are homeless after leaving prison and therefore classed as vulnerable. From the rules that have been stated, I'd think it was a halfway house for prison leavers rather than specifically for those with MH problems.

What slightly concerned me yesterday reference the reporting was what papers like the mail we're going to make of her going back to his for a drink having only just met him, given their victim blaming form, but this appears not to have happened, which is both good and surprising!

I do think that this crime is unusual enough that it would have been reported whoever the victim.

I do understand the OP's unease and anger at the way it was reported on the program she heard.

I think that both describing the man's death as unfortunate, and him as a victim, are inappropriate in the context of this situation.

messy I think it's because of the sex thing - I watch a lot of US CSI type progs (yes I know I like the pretty glossiness ) and the episodes are etremely heavy on the "women being brutalised and murdered, probably with additional sexual violence, possibly with a nice bit of torture, and she's likely to be young and attractive". One of my favourite shows I simply refer to as "women being horribly murdered".

So. People like it, they like to read about it, they like to see programs about it, they are interested in it in the news. Why? No fucking idea.

perhaps the story has changed since it was first reported (possibly because the next of kin had not been informed then) but what I see is 'woman horrifically murdered by man who died as the result of the tasering'.

her attractiveness, skin colour, age etc etc have had no bearing on the reporting. She certainly isn't being ignored because she is female. Seeing what isn't there?

as well as sympathy for the late victim and her family, also to the police officers and others who have seen something utterly horrific.

So whilst I wonder if he might have been mentally ill - you don't have any such question in your own mind ?

I noticed this. I did assume it was because what had happened to the man (and the ipcc involvement) was not in doubt whereas they were still trying to work out what had happened to the woman.
That said, I am happy to be told I'm naive and trusting!

Of course Empire, I hadn't thought of that aspect, too angry at the way the Beep reported it and at yet another crime of misogyny.

Just wanted to pick up on what someone said upthread:
More men are murdered every year than women, and we don't hear about them either.

Because although I know more men are murdered than women, whenever I turn on the news it's always about women or girls being sexually assaulted, raped or murdered. And often the victims have been targeted because they're female.

I don't think it's because society cares more about women than men because it did there'd be more debate about the causes of such violence.

And i don't think there's a conspiracy to keep us all scared, even though that is often the effect.

Maybe it's because the sexual nature of crimes against women make more shocking viewing, more salacious?

I don't know. What do you think?

Empire

There is much about the case we do not know. We do know - or at the very least we are told by the news reports - that the man was very recently released from prison and placed into some sort of hostel. Again we do not know why he was placed into this hostel in Argoed. I've read newspaper reports that it is a hostel for 'vulnerable' persons. Begs the question, as to why he was classified as being vulnerable.

Also, by all accounts the man subjected the woman to a horrific cannibalistic attack, sufficiently serious to cause her death - prima facie, I'd have thought of something being particularly mentally amiss.

Murder ? - again possibly or possibly a jury might have been persuaded to return a manslaughter verdict based on diminished responsibility.

My apologies for making a bad mistake with numbers. The rate is falling, but has not fallen that far. I've had another look, and the it is c.500+ each year (not c.260+).

But I think the point that most murders do not receive attention in the national media still stands, even though each life lost, whoever it is, a dreadful thing.

I suspect, however, the coverage on this crime, given the (admittedly limited) information on the sequence of event released by official sources so far (attack, taser, victim's death, suspect's death, IPCC referral in initial statement; detail of horrific nature of crime and identities of the people several hours later), would have been much the same had the victim been a man. Though I suppose it might have been quite different had the murderer been a woman.