An Aboriginal woman who killed her partner after finding him in bed with another woman was spared prison time yesterday after a judge took into account the likely severity of her tribal punishment once she returned home.
Deborah Sturt, 32, was given a suspended sentence of three years for stabbing her partner, Patrick Seela, to death after finding him with another woman in the northwest town of Halls Creek last year.
Sturt pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the attack, in which she stabbed Seela in the legs with a kitchen knife, severing major arteries and causing massive blood loss. The couple's 13-year-old son witnessed the attack.
In issuing the sentence, Western Australia Justice Michael Murray said Sturt would almost certainly face tribal retribution -- including bodily harm -- upon her return home, but said there were more important factors in his decision to spare her from prison.
"I may regard it [tribal punishment] as having some mitigatory basis, but I have not placed great weight upon it. There are more powerful factors at work to my mind," Murray said, citing Sturt's four dependent children, her remorse over the crime and the year she served in jail awaiting trial.
Earlier, Sturt told the court she feared her dead partner's family would try to kill her according to traditional demands for "eye for an eye" punishment.
Nevertheless, Mark Cuomo of Western Australia's Aboriginal Legal Service said Sturt plans to return to her community in the remote northwest corner of the country, where the families involved are still negotiating what punishment she will receive.
Cuomo said the judge was not required to take tribal punishment into account, but had done so at his own discretion.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was