Last month saw one of the most sickening domestic violence cases I've ever come across. You may well have missed the story given the relative lack of coverage it received in the media, undoubtedly it would certainly be be front page material if the victim were female. The case involved Clare Nicolls torturing her partner Andrew Gardner ove several week, eventually resulting in his murder.
Although she was assisted by others, it's clear from the sentencing and evidence that she was the primary offender in the case and the dominant figure in the household. There's such a huge catalogue of abuses the victim suffered that I can't really include them all and you have to read several news articles to get something close to the full picture. In summary Mr Gardner:
- Had 100 injuries including 21 broken ribs, burns, cuts, abrasions, a massive head injury, bleeding on the brain and blood poisoning.
- Suffered whipping and cuts with a knife.
- Had karate practised on him by Nicholls.
- Was marked as a result of people playing horrific games of noughts on crosses on his body.
- Had abuse written on his body using nail varnish.
- Suffered starvation and further beatings any time he tried to "steal food".
- Was deprived of sleep, being beaten any time he should fall asleep.
Any time gender feminists seeks to belittle and refuse to help male domestic violence victims I strongly suggest referring to cases such as this. Of particular note is the fact Nichols actually got other members of the household to restrain the victim whilst she carried out the beatings. In fact, she even encouraged their children to attack the victim too!
The only good news from the case case is that Nicolls actually received a sizeable life sentence for her deeds as opposed to the usual female sentencing discount we see all to often in such cases. Of course not everything is equal though - there are no quotes from any domestic violence charities in any of the coverage as would occur with your typical female victim, and the term "domestic violence" is of course totally omitted from ant articles on the case.
It's little wonder we fail to help people such as Mr Gardner when the term "domestic violence" is strictly reserved for female vicitms.
Clare Nicholls has admitted killing 35-year-old
Court told of lover's words after final attack
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