42-year-old Sharon Edwards says that her 51-year-old husband walked into a kitchen knife that she had taken from him. But the jury at her murder trial have rejected this claim and found her guilty.
The court heard that Sharon, a mother of four, liked the idea of becoming a solicitor’s wife, but after moving into David’s home she became domineering and possessive.
“She had been violent to Mr Edwards early on in the relationship but it escalated as time went on. There is no evidence that he ever retaliated physically to her assaults.
“He submitted to his wife’s demands to cover up her behaviour and continued to say that he loved her,” said Rob Jansen, of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Manchester Crown court was told that David had to cover up a black eye and bruised lip for the couple’s wedding photos.
The court also heard that David had even been recorded saying his new wife could “knock him out with one punch” and that she hit “rather hard”.
While domestic violence has been in the spotlight here in Australia, we hear less about violence towards men.
Although statistically, women are much more likely to be the victims of domestic violence, cases such as David Edwards are not unheard of.
Dr David Smyth at Violence Free Families is not surprised by the Edwards case. “It happens,” he told The Weekly.
“Not as frequently as the other way around, but it does happen.”
Smyth says that police statistics show that men are the victims of domestic violence in 17% of reported cases, whereas women are the victims in 83% of reported cases.
However, as Smyth notes, the statistics could be obscured because men are less likely to report domestic violence because they are ashamed of it. “We don’t really know the whole picture,” he says.
Smyth notes that in many cases, women become violent towards their male partner in response to being abused or bullied. “Sometimes after years of abuse, women snap and stick a kitchen knife through a man,” he says.
However, this isn’t always the case, as the Edwards case demonstrates.
So what other reasons do women have for becoming abusive to their partners?
Smyth speculates that Sharon Edwards was likely to have been abused as a child.
“It’s very common to find that men and women who are abusive to their families were abused as children. They might have had some very dark places in their past,” he says.
Smyth notes that mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse are also contributing factors.
Smyth says that anyone in an abusive relationship should seek help.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
MensLine Australia: 1300 78 99 78
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