23 Attempted Murder
“But from each crime are born bullets that will one day seek out in you where the heart lies.” Pablo Neruda
The wife and I went on a bit of a pub-crawl and ended up at Barristers Nightclub. I got a bit pissed in the process. After a time I went to the toilet and had a tinkle in a cubicle and when I came out Britton was waiting for me. I went to walk past him and he grabbed me from behind spun me round and tried to force me back into the cubicle but I managed to prevent that happening by placing a hand on each side of the doorway. Next there was a flurry of movement and I found myself on the floor of the toilets with the ape sitting on my chest with one hand on my throat. He then proceeded to squeeze my throat and cut my air off. He continued choking me until a bouncer who had been summoned by another toilet user dragged him off.
Now what would you call that attack?
Britton committed a lot more offences against my family but you get the idea.
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Woman jailed for second time for attempted murder
06 November 2004
A Wanganui woman has been jailed for the second time for attempted murder.
Louise Anne Bell, 42, was sentenced in the High Court at Wellington yesterday to three years in prison for trying to strangle a medical professional at Good Health Wanganui’s Te Awhina mental health unit.
Bell, who suffers from borderline personality disorder and major depressive disorder, was a patient at the unit.
A jury found her guilty after a trial at the High Court in Wanganui in September.
It was the second time she had been convicted of attempted murder. In 2002 she was jailed for 12 months after trying to suffocate a semi-comatose friend who had earlier attempted to commit suicide.
Bell’s lawyer, Lance Rowe, said she was reacting to stress following a “substantial” period of hospitalisation. She had just been released into the community. Her usual reaction to stress was to harm herself but on this occasion she had hit out at the medical professional, whose name was suppressed.
Bell was being treated for her illnesses, but because of her extreme reaction to stress and likelihood of harming herself would have to be kept under virtual solitary confinement if sent to prison, Mr Rowe said.
NOTE Lance Rowe, Bell’s lawyer.
See Chapter 26 Extortion
However, Crown prosecutor Andrew Cameron said the community had to be protected from Bell until treatment had lowered the risk of her re-offending.
Justice Wild said Bell choked the medical professional for 10 to 15 seconds until she was pulled away by a passing staff member.
Bell apologised for her actions a few minutes later, but staff at Te Awhina had now been issued with panic pendants and panic buttons were being installed, Justice Wild said.
Though Bell had a continuing problem of dealing with unexpected episodes of anger, a psychiatric assessment found that she did not need to be hospitalised, but could be treated in prison or in the community.
It was expected she would need up to two years of therapy before the risk of further offending was significantly reduced.
In deciding the length of her sentence, Justice Wild took into account that the offence was not premeditated, her victim was not injured and no weapon was used.