Judge says woman's insult to blame for attack
07.03.2001

A WOMAN who was attacked by her husband with an axe was found by a judge to be partly to blame for the violence because she had insulted the man's dead father.
Clasping a baby to her chest, she was struck twice on the legs with the axe as she fled from a house in Burketown.
The woman was awarded a total of $11,250 in criminal compensation -- after Judge Brian Hoath reduced the payout by 25 per cent.
The 1997 case came to light yesterday after publication of details of a compensation claim which was discounted by a judge who said the woman victim had contributed to having her eye knocked out because she swore at her attacker.
District Court Judge Ian Wylie reduced a compensation payout to Rosie Lowdown, of Pormpuraaw community on Cape York, from $70,000 to $64,750 ``to reflect the extent to which her behaviour contributed to the incident''.
In his decision, Judge Wylie referred to Ms Lowdown calling her assailant a ``mother f-----'', saying ``the catalyst for the incident was her use of the foulest obscenity to abuse the respondent, as open an invitation to a `don't argue' in the face as I can imagine''.
The Queensland judiciary was yesterday slammed for its lack of ``cultural sensitivity'' by prominent Aboriginal health spokeswoman, Gracelyn Smallwood.
Ms Smallwood said it was common for such ``offhand'' action to be taken by judges and magistrates when dealing with indigenous people.
``This is stuff from the dark ages, and I just don't believe it would have happened if it had not been an indigenous woman victim,'' she said.
``How can we get any form of reconciliation when we have neanderthal stuff like this -- being told that a woman provokes a person into knocking her eye out by using bad language?''
In his judgment of May 30, 1997, Judge Hoath said Ronelle Gregory of Burketown was seeking compensation from her husband Rex Gregory after he was convicted of unlawful wounding.
``An argument developed with the applicant `swearing to' the respondent's deceased father,'' Judge Hoath said.
``Swearing to'' a person's deceased parent is in Murri culture an extremely offensive act.
``In sentencing the respondent, I took into account that the applicant's swearing was a serious insult and the respondent was provoked by it,'' the judge said.