Comment: Outrage over Gerard Baden-Clay manslaughter conviction should a be tool for change

THE downgrading of Gerard Baden-Clay’s murder conviction has prompted outrage. When the gulf between the public and the law is so wide, something is seriously wrong.

Supplied copy image of Allison Baden-Clay

JODIE Dann has spent years supporting battered women as a domestic violence court advocate. Now she is supporting a seemingly unending battle for justice for her cousin, Allison Baden-Clay, who died at home at the hands of her husband.

Allison’s case has always been a lightning rod, partly because it is easy to identify with the ordinary battles she faced as a wife and the mother of three young girls.

With the Court of Appeal’s decision this week to downgrade husband Gerard Baden-Clay’s murder conviction to manslaughter, the case is once more drawing attention.

The decision has prompted community outrage and intensified debate about how courts approach domestic violence. When the gulf between the public and the law and legal fraternity is so wide, something is seriously wrong.

We need to harness that power, rather than be defeated by it, whether it be to look at new laws dealing specifically with domestic violence or to foster greater understanding of the issues involved.

The appeal court’s decision references the apparent lack of violence in Gerard and Allison’s marriage before her death, but any DV counsellor will tell you controlling behaviour is a key precursor to fatal violence.

Gerard had that in spades. Allison’s diary revealed much. She wrote of how he had laughed at her underwear and told her she smelled. If anything, her death shows emotionally abusive behaviour can escalate to fatal violence.