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key indigenous australian issues
| home | news lKiller Faces Tribal Justice3 September 2004 - An Aboriginal woman convicted of stabbing her cheating lover to death has walked free because she faces severe punishment by her tribe. In a controversial decision, judge Michael Murray gave Deborah Sturt, 32, a suspended sentence for manslaughter. He told a west Australian court: 'Her punishment is likely to involve the infliction of wounds or injury, perhaps serious bodily harm.' Being speared in the leg is a form of retribution under traditional Aboriginal justice. Source: Daily Record (UK) Woman sentenced to tribal justice, not jail By Amanda Banks September 2, 2004 - An Aboriginal woman is facing tribal punishment after she was given a suspended sentence for stabbing her cheating partner to death with a kitchen knife. Authorities are trying to find a safe haven for Deborah Sturt, 32, who was given the rare sentence after spending almost a year in custody. Imposing the sentence, Supreme Court Justice Michael Murray accepted it was inevitable the mother of four would face severe punishment for her partner's death. But he said there were more powerful considerations that influenced his decision. Sturt, who was brought up in the "old ways" in remote desert lands, admitted stabbing her partner of 15 years in each leg with a 15cm kitchen knife after she caught him having sex with another woman in Halls Creek in West Australia's Kimberley region on September 13 last year. The couple's 13-year-old son watched the drunken attack, which Justice Murray said was out of character and unlikely to be repeated. The judge was told that Sturt, a shy woman who speaks little English, was so frightened of tribal punishment she thought she would be better off taking her own life. But she accepted tribal punishment was inevitable and a member of her family would otherwise face retribution. While her children were not in danger, the court heard Sturt will not be safe anywhere in the region of Halls Creek, Kununurra and Broome. She could have found protection in the community of Kulumburu, where her uncle lives and her partner's family are not permitted, while her families negotiated her punishment. But the community this week voted against her acceptance and another remote station is now considering the matter. Justice Murray said it was unusual not to impose an immediate jail term for manslaughter, but he accepted Sturt's remorse, her role as the carer of four children and her alienation during a year in a Perth jail. While it was not his overriding consideration, Justice Murray also accepted the likelihood of tribal punishment. "The process is likely to involve the infliction of wounds or injury, perhaps serious bodily harm," he said. Source: The Australian
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its one year on from the Australian Governments controversial intervention into NT Indigenous communities
action Roll back, listen to Indigenous community voices speaking about the intervention |
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