BristolUK

Student who stabbed boyfriend may avoid jail as it would ‘damage her career’
So far the Guardian's columnists have been strangely silent.

mikelincs

Yes, but if you read the article, then she will never be allowed to become a surgeon as her criminal record will bar her from being registered by the BMA. so he brilliance will all be wasted in any case, throw her in jail for a few months.

BristolUK

"Almost impossible" it said. Maybe they'll make an exception for her, after all the university is accepting her back "because she “is that bright” and has had articles published in medical journals."

No doubt the Guardian will get around to some 'opinion' pieces about it.

Had it been a talented man assaulting his partner we'd have seen a few articles by now about how men are allowed to get away with this, how the judiciary is forgiving of violent men etc.

I suspect if they do run one it will be along the lines of how this is different.

I love the Guardian but it's becoming increasingly guilty of double standards.

bats

She seems to have a typical surgeon personality.

I doubt her brilliance would be a factor if she were anything but a posh Oxford student.

Dorothy

I don't think it's the Guardian who's guilty of double standards here. It's the magistrate who decided not to jail a violent offender simply because she's "smart"

Almost Canadian

It wasn't a magistrate, but a judge (there is a very large difference between the two).

In any event, he seems to have done his job properly by weighing up the evidence, looking at the options available to him and made his decision accordingly. If the crown believes that what he did was wrong, they can appeal. Very rarely in sentencing, is there a one size fits all approach and I am happy about that.

There is nothing to suggest that she definitely won't go to jail and he appears to be taking a "wait and see" approach. Seems perfectly sensible to me.

Almost Canadian

Where did the article mention that she was "posh"?

From my reading of it, it sounds as if the opposite was true and that she has had a "troubled life."

Souvy

Brilliance aside, would you really put your life in the hands of someone like that?

BristolUK

I meant for the lack of an associated opinion piece about DV and/or not treating the matter seriously or how the courts treat male perpetrators, which they would almost certainly have run by now had the offender been male and victim female.

As it happens the paper seems to have resolved any dilemma by "removing" or hiding the report. It's now filed under 'crime' which is not one of the categories on the main page nor even in the list of links by subject when one opens the category menu.

So unless you know the report is there, you won't find it.

BristolUK

Well, for someone with ambitions to be a surgeon, she at least got some practice.

Almost Canadian

When I was a solicitor in the UK, I used to practice in the medical malpractice arena. When I first came to Canada, I did so here too.

One unfortunate downside of such practice is that one is reluctant to place one's life in the hands of any surgeon.

BristolUK

I can only go by newspaper reports but waiting and seeing for four months doesn't seem the usual approach in such cases.

"Adjourning for reports" isn't uncommon but that doesn't seem to be the case here. The judge himself used the word exceptional to describe it.

Of course, that doesn't make it wrong, but she's not the first first offender is she? Is waiting and seeing for 4 months the norm for first time offenders?

It might be a tad presumptuous but one might conclude that someone who actually lives in Italy with her mother while attending Oxford University is perhaps a little "better placed" than most.

And that's without looking at the man representing her.

For decades Jim has represented celebrities, high net worth individuals (and many of their children), company directors, corporate clients and sports stars both in the UK and across the globe.

Posh, I reckon.

Oink

Plus she's quite fit but at 24 she doesn't want to spend her last few "doable" years in prison. That'd be a waste.

bats

Posh people can have troubled lives too

That article isn't my only reading on this subject.

Almost Canadian

I don't believe it is normal. I read the article on the BBC's site and I can't remember if this article, or the BBC's one, made reference to the fact that she had been abusing drugs. As she has been told to stop using them and, one assumes, she will have to attend for drug screening to ascertain that she is in compliance, I assume that, if she is able to show that she is attempting to turn her life around, she will give shown more leniency than if she doesn't.


Presumptuous it is. Her mother and father may have divorced and, for reasons unknown, her mother may have moved to Italy. Who knows?

Not everyone that attends Oxford is wealthy but most, I accept, are intelligent. She may be incurring huge debts to enable herself to attend.

As for her lawyer, he may have taken this case on pro bono, or via legal aid.