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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Abigail Blake to meet Victims' Commissioner

10 replies

ArranUpsideDown · 04/08/2019 19:18

Dame Vera Baird will meet Abigail Blake on Monday to discuss her case and ways to improve experiences for other victims.

Blake sustained a broken back and neck and was left permanently disabled after Sebastian Swamy attacked her at their home in July 2017. He removed her mobile phone so she could not call 999, and she was rescued by neighbours as she lay unconscious outside the property with a severed spinal cord, five broken ribs and a punctured lung.

Six months after he was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, Swamy was granted early release. Blake, 42, a mother of two, said her case raised serious concerns about the way the justice system supports domestic violence victims.
...
Blake, from Knutsford in Cheshire, only met CPS lawyers on the day Swamy was sentenced in January this year. She received no legal advice and was urged by the police to accept his plea bargain to avoid the trauma of a trial. She believed Swamy would spend a minimum of 20 months of a three-year sentence in prison.

However, the time Swamy had spent on bail wearing an electronic tag was taken into account as part of his custodial sentence and he was granted early release.

www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/04/victims-commissioner-to-meet-woman-who-went-into-hiding-after-ex-freed?

She wasn't consulted about the early release and went into hiding with her son when she learned of it.

There seem to have been so many breakdowns in communication and Blake wasn't given good advice about agreeing to the deals on offer to avoid the trauma of court appearances.

OP posts:
SunsetBeetch · 04/08/2019 20:58

Oh my god what a horrific story!

ArranUpsideDown · 04/08/2019 21:17

I can't quite fathom just how bad the advice was and that nobody thought that they should break it down for her as to the likely outcome.

I hope that the commissioner really listens to her and takes note of what it means for women in comparable circumstances.

OP posts:
Twunk · 04/08/2019 21:27

That is truly an appalling story - that she suffered so much and was then treated so shabbily is just incredible.

GrandmaSteglitszch · 04/08/2019 21:27

That is a ridiculously short sentence, apart from anything else.
He didn't care if he'd killed her.

LizzieSiddal · 04/08/2019 21:58

What an horrific case.

I did hear Dame Vera speak on R4 last week (sorry I can’t remember which programme) about this issue. She sounded like a woman on a mission to change things for victims.

FormerMediocreMale · 04/08/2019 22:00

6months! Thats not ok for what he did Angry

KatvonHostileExtremist · 04/08/2019 23:02

Horrendous

OccasionalKite · 05/08/2019 01:08

That is a horrific case.

FoldyRoll · 05/08/2019 01:47

An utterly shocking crime equalled only by the inadequacy of the sentence and lack of justice for Abigail. I know Vera. She's a staunch feminist and a quietly forceful personality. IMO, she'll be instrumental in moving this forward.

SonicVersusGynaephobia · 05/08/2019 03:20

I have also been very impressed with Dame Vera Baird when I have heard her.

This is just a shocking case. Sounds like CPS just wanted an easy tick in the "win" box. These are not the cases to do that on. In fact, I'm not sure plea bargains should be used for violent crime at all.

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