Punishment, before and after

Still in Victoria, there is James Ramage who successfully claimed provocation after strangling his ex-wife and burying her in a bush grave. He served only eight years.  Luke Middendorp used defensive homicide after stabbing his 'pint-sized' former partner in the back four times. 'You deserved that, you filthy slut,' he said before leaving her to die. In Brisbane, Gary Mills is now free after serving less than five years for strangling his wife Joelene, while Damian Sebo was given a minimum of eight for bludgeoning his sixteen-year old ex-girlfriend to death and Chamanjot Singh was gaoled for just six years after cutting his wife's throat with box-cutters as she begged for mercy. It seems the best chance for a male perpetrator to avoid a murder charge is to claim provocation. Not by a lifetime of abuse, though, but by having their right to ownership threatened.

Then there is the statistically rare case of Susan Falls, who was acquitted after drugging and then shooting her husband twice in the head. Like Robyn Buller, she too attempted to dump her husband's body. But in this case the jury took into account the systematic and horrific abuse Susan Falls had suffered over a period of twenty years, and took just ninety minutes to reach their verdict.

The case of Robyn Buller was put forward for a Royal Prerogative of Mercy in 2012. This was refused. She now has little option but to serve out her sentence. Her earliest hope for freedom will come in mid 2016. She has already served significantly longer than any of the men mentioned above.

There is no public interest in Robyn Buller remaining in jail. It is arguable whether there ever was. She was victimised many times over; and finally by a system that is reluctant to contextualise domestic homicide when the perpetrator is female. Justice should not involve a roll of loaded dice. In the case of Robyn Buller, and the others like her, it is not just their lives that are impacted. Society itself is put under the microscope, and found wanting.