http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/No-need-to-change-provocation-law-Shine/2007/07/06/1183351441162.html

Queensland Attorney-General Kerry Shine has warned against any "knee-jerk reaction" to abolish or amend the murder defence of provocation following a controversial manslaughter case.

A Supreme Court jury last weekend found Damian Karl Sebo, 30, of Pacific Pines on the Gold Coast, guilty of manslaughter after he confessed to using a steering-wheel lock to bash to death his lover, 16-year-old Taryn Jessica Hunt.

But he was acquitted of the teenager's murder, after he successfully argued he was provoked after the girl taunted him with tales of cheating on him with other men.

The case has sparked outrage over the leniency of the sentence and lawyers' use of provocation as a defence.

"I fully sympathise with them for their tragic loss ... however the law thus has been now in place well over for 100 years, so far as providing the possibility of the defence of provocation, has been there for good reason for that length of time," he said.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jul 6^th, 2007 at 6:59pm:


I hear you sprint..Cody knows your pain.

Thanks for confirming my explaination ladies.

Obviously he did do a bad thing. The law says there were reasons for hs actions.
Hence not guilty of murder, but manslaughter.

Men get no compassion, confirmed by the comments from the ladies here.

Sprintcyclist - I hope you're not serious.

The girl was 16 and has had her life cut off before it even started.  So what if she had other boys - she was a young teenager - most of them find it impossible to be in a monogomous relationship.

Of course no one has sympathy for this older bloke - he shouldn't have taken the relationship so seriously in the first place.

He has literally gotten away with murder.  

Very few people would have compassion for murderers.

He got manslaughter, which seems fair.

He was provoked by her taunting him with details of the lovers she was actively having.
That is the law, it has been that way for about 100 years.
Noone seems to mind when a woman benefits from this consideration.

He did wrong and is justly jailed for it.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Qld-Provocation-defence-to-be-audited/2007/07/18/1184559863657.html

Queensland's long-established legal defence of provocation will be reviewed, following a controversial manslaughter verdict in the case of a man who bashed his girlfriend to death.

Attorney-General Kerry Shine, who initially refused to commit to a review, announced Wednesday that an inquiry into the so-called "accident defence", already underway, would now include an audit of the provocation defence.

Using the provocation defence, Sebo was jailed for 10 years for the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The decision prompted Ms Hunt's family to join the Queensland Homicide Victims Support Group in a campaign to force the government to review the provocation defence.

The accident defence - which says a person is not criminally responsible for an event occurring by accident - came under attention after defendants were acquitted in the trials relating to the deaths of David Stevens and Nigel Lee.

Stevens, 26, and Lee, 31, died in separate inner-city Brisbane assaults in 2005.

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AFL star 'needled' before assault

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22108324-5006787,00.html

A MAGISTRATE has refused to issue a conviction against AFL star ruckman Dean Brogan for assaulting a surgeon in a dog park, after she found the premiership footballer had been provoked by the surgeon's "needling" and insults.

Brogan was appearing in court for the second time in relation to a guilty plea in an assault case. Although magistrate Koula Kossiavelos said there was no excuse for his actions, she limited the penalty to a $1000 fine plus court costs.

The court had heard the charge stemmed from a confrontation in the well-to-do Adelaide suburb of Millswood, when Dr Zahi Khouri's two dalmatians and Brogan's doberman had started fighting while all three animals were off the leash.

An argument over which owner should put which dog back on a lead led to a screaming match and a punch from Brogan that struck Dr Khouri above the forehead, opening a deep cut that required six stitches and left a scar.

Prior to the punch, Dr Khouri, who apparently did not recognise the high-profile footballer and former basketballer, had delivered a string of insults disparaging Brogan's appearance, his lack of maturity and even his presence in the park.