Everyday Victim Blaming

challenging institutional disbelief around domestic & sexual violence and abuse

“Jealousy” is not an excuse.

Jealous husband Kelvin Newton gets life for wife's murder

This is the title of a BBC article. The sub-heading is:

A jealous husband has been jailed for life and must serve a minimum sentence of of 18 years for murdering his wife over her holiday romance.

The headline says it all: Kelvin Newton killed his wife because of something she did; not because Newton chose to kill his wife but because she made him. In two sentences, the BBC has blamed Assia Newton for her brutal death by strangulation with a dog lead.  Assia Newton's crime falling in love with another man and asking for a divorce:

On Wednesday, Recorder of Cardiff Judge Eleri Rees said: "This was murder born out of your sexual jealousy in the knowledge that she intended to leave you."

Let us be very clear here: jealousy is not an excuse to kill. A man who chooses to kill a partner is a violent man and nothing the victim does justifies murder.

Yet, we all know what the last part of the article is without even reading it. We instinctively know that a man who strangles their wife to death with a dog lead will have a history of domestic violence and abuse. Assia Newton lived in a violent relationship for 23 years. The moment she attempted to leave the relationship, she was murdered. Statistically, the most dangerous time for a woman is when she leaves the relationship.

The fact that Ms Newton was starting a new relationship is irrelevant. This is a clear cut case of domestic violence and using words like "jealousy" to define the murderer is making excuses for their behaviour. Assia Newton deserves better than this.

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One thought on ““Jealousy” is not an excuse.

  • Hecuba says:

    Why didn’t murderer Kelvin Newton leave given he knew Assia Newton had fallen in love with another male? This is what men always claim ‘women you should have left your male partner/husband instead of making the choice (sic) to remain.’

    But of course men are never asked the question ‘why didn’t you leave instead of murdering your wife/female partner?’ Reason is because men who commit violence and all too often lethal violence against the female partner/wife believe she is their male private sexual property.

    Jealousy didn’t cause Kelvin Newton to murder Assia Newton – Newton enacted his male misogynistic belief Ms. Newton was his private sexual property so he was entitled to do whatever he wished with her, including committing femicide.