20 April 2012

Man who assaulted wife for second time gets 2 year good behaviour order [With poll]

| kepayne
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According to the ACT Supreme Court Edited Extract of Proceedings, Joseph Patrick Ennis, who assaulted and broke the arm of his de facto wife Lisa Shelton on 24 October 2010, has received his sentence. A two years good behaviour order and 100 hours community service.

This isn’t the first time he has assaulted Ms Shelton, the other incident occurring on 7 November 2006. While details of the incident were not discussed, the judge stated that the circumstances of the first assault were more serious than the second. He received an eighteen month good behaviour bond for that incident.

Both assaults happened when Mr Ennis and his de facto, who were both heavy drinkers, were intoxicated and arguing.

I see why the judge gave the ruling that he did; the couple have reconciled, have claimed to stop drinking and have a 19 year old named Jess. However the judge also assumed that Mr Ennis was remorseful, though Ennis never actually said that himself.

As he did not say so in so many words, I assume, given that the offender has pleaded guilty to having assaulted Ms Shelton, that the offender is remorseful for having assaulted her. They have been reconciled and, as I have said, they continue to live together. Indeed, both of them have ceased to drink alcohol.

It was also mentioned that Joseph Ennis did not plead guilty straight away.

What bothers me is this:

I must, of course, not overlook deterrence. In view of the fact that this is the second time that the offender has assaulted his partner, I see both personal deterrence and general deterrence to be important. Yhe offender must be reminded, if he has forgotten, that one does not assault one’s partner. He must be reminded, if he has forgotten, that he faces a prison sentence. Others who may think of doing what the offender has done, and regretfully domestic violence is all too common today, must be deterred by sentences imposed on offenders like this offender from doing what the offender has done.

I don’t think that the sentence does encourage deterrence; whether for Mr Ennis or others. Domestic violence is taken much too lightly. Offenders get slap on the wrist here and there, and then people wonder why it is so rampant?

What do you folks think?

Should Joseph Ennis have gotten jail time?

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matt31221 said :

No, I think there may be more to this case. Some studies have shown that 1 in every 2.5 domestic violence cases the victim of abuse was the male! This makes total sense to me – women can get equally angry as a man and sometimes MORE emotional and lash out at a partner. How many cases have involved a women slapping a bloke in the face and then the bloke hitting back and flattening the women? The police are ALWAYS bias towards blaming the man no matter what and a women who was hurt because she slapped a guy first only needs to call the police for revenge and the bloke is locked up no matter what. My wife has slapped me hard in the face twice over the years over really trivial matters (she thought I was perving at another women and the second I used a small portion of MY savings to buy a motor bike without telling her first) and it rattled me – I knew I could not hit her back because it would snuff her clean out. I would never report it because it makes you feel like a wuss. How many other men feel the same?

Of course there are the few cases where the man is actually a low life wife basher that beats the shit out of his wife for control like depicted in Once were warriors. Lock those bastards up. And on the flip side lock up the WOMEN who bash the crap out of their man on a regular basis for control too.

I may have gone on about this in another thread too – I obviously feel strongly about it. Reference: http://www.oregoncounseling.org/Handouts/DomesticViolenceMen.htm

Yeah.

As I’ve detailed elsewhere on RA, my ex wife beat me on several occasions. The domestic violence in our relationship was all on her part, and I never touched her in return. Getting out of that relationship was the best thing that ever happened to me.

So, it’s not all one way. Still, this case seems so weird, including the advice ffrom TDD that I really don’t know what to conclude.

In general, yes, assault like this should attract a penalty that acts as a deterrent to both the idiot offender and others who may consider committing the same crime.

In the broader picture, however, why waste so much time and money worrying about socially relatively non-contributive drugged up bogans behaving badly?

In summary, he should go to gaol, and if she’s stupid enough to stay around after he’s broken her arm, I’m afraid my bucket of sympathy has just run dry…

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd6:46 am 26 Apr 12

Any type of assault should result in gaol time.

PrinceOfAles9:57 pm 25 Apr 12

aydee said :

Should he get jail? No.. Not really. This is a despicable crime. But jail? Not really.

This comes down to having worked with a lot if this stuff. ( I was NOT, nor AM I a police officer. My position was a little different but it involved seeing a lot of this stuff).

I don’t know if he can be rehabilitated. But I also don’t forsee that jail would work for him. Reading what I can on him, he’d actually see the jail time as ‘hardening’ time. His partner would not seperate from him. Community service is the better option. 100 hrs is a little lenient in my books. But I don’t have law books because that wasn’t my area. He needs to be ‘inconvenienced’, not ‘hardened’. This is a guy that didn’t beat his missus every day. I’m also willing to bet that he often WOULDN’T beat his missus, but I’d bet that his alcohol would get the better of him and he’d stuff up royally. This is never an excuse, but he’d use it as such.

What we really need is a method of banning people from buying alcohol. But that’d work the same as the war on drugs (ie. Not work).

TL;DR version: Humans are stupid. They’ll reoffend. He can’t be jailed for long enough. He’d be “cool” if jailed, and reoffend on exit. Suggestions please?

He broke her arm. And this is his second offence. And the previous one was more serious than breaking her arm. If he can`t be rehabillitated and is at high risk of reoffending then he needs to be locked away in a place where he can`t hurt her or any other woman. If that means life in jail then so be it. The next time he smacks her around could prove to be more deadly (for her).

Should he get jail? No.. Not really. This is a despicable crime. But jail? Not really.

This comes down to having worked with a lot if this stuff. ( I was NOT, nor AM I a police officer. My position was a little different but it involved seeing a lot of this stuff).

I don’t know if he can be rehabilitated. But I also don’t forsee that jail would work for him. Reading what I can on him, he’d actually see the jail time as ‘hardening’ time. His partner would not seperate from him. Community service is the better option. 100 hrs is a little lenient in my books. But I don’t have law books because that wasn’t my area. He needs to be ‘inconvenienced’, not ‘hardened’. This is a guy that didn’t beat his missus every day. I’m also willing to bet that he often WOULDN’T beat his missus, but I’d bet that his alcohol would get the better of him and he’d stuff up royally. This is never an excuse, but he’d use it as such.

What we really need is a method of banning people from buying alcohol. But that’d work the same as the war on drugs (ie. Not work).

TL;DR version: Humans are stupid. They’ll reoffend. He can’t be jailed for long enough. He’d be “cool” if jailed, and reoffend on exit. Suggestions please?

VYBerlinaV8_is_back said :

I’d be pretty angry too if my name was written Joseph P. Ennis.

GOLD! Best laugh of the day!

TheDancingDjinn said :

I know these people, Lisa used to work with my mother. They are both ridiculous junkies who took my mum for a sucker, joe has been beating her for years, they use his domestic violence to get help from people and organisations that’s why he admits it. She will now apply for VOC payout and they will both spend it. They are a joke, lock them both up this is a total snow job.
Lisa even had my mother let her move into the home she owned, thinking she was saving her, he brought joe and the then nine year old boy jess. Then went to housing saying they were homeless and she needed a 3 buddy to escape the horror of her domestically brutal husband, they then gave them a house and they all lived there, cheap rent under the guise that she is a victim. Which she is kind of, but they both use this to their advantage so to me they are stomach turning both of them should be taken in.

This is upsetting though – if this is the case then we are all being royally played by a couple of con artists…..

No, I think there may be more to this case. Some studies have shown that 1 in every 2.5 domestic violence cases the victim of abuse was the male! This makes total sense to me – women can get equally angry as a man and sometimes MORE emotional and lash out at a partner. How many cases have involved a women slapping a bloke in the face and then the bloke hitting back and flattening the women? The police are ALWAYS bias towards blaming the man no matter what and a women who was hurt because she slapped a guy first only needs to call the police for revenge and the bloke is locked up no matter what. My wife has slapped me hard in the face twice over the years over really trivial matters (she thought I was perving at another women and the second I used a small portion of MY savings to buy a motor bike without telling her first) and it rattled me – I knew I could not hit her back because it would snuff her clean out. I would never report it because it makes you feel like a wuss. How many other men feel the same?

Of course there are the few cases where the man is actually a low life wife basher that beats the shit out of his wife for control like depicted in Once were warriors. Lock those bastards up. And on the flip side lock up the WOMEN who bash the crap out of their man on a regular basis for control too.

I may have gone on about this in another thread too – I obviously feel strongly about it. Reference: http://www.oregoncounseling.org/Handouts/DomesticViolenceMen.htm

buzz819 said :

nyssa1976 said :

Do you know why Corrective Services wont do anything? Because they aren’t an investigative body.

The breach of a good behaviour order comes about when the offender is convicted of another offence, nothing to do with Corrective Services.

Failure to attend your ‘check in’ is also a violation of the order, which was done and they (CS) are capable of filing the breach themselves for that with the AFP. Proof was supplied also that perp was out of state without their permission some NINE times, and is also a violation.

They can’t be bothered. The victims are worse off.

Oh and Henry, you’ll be glad to know that despite qualifying for VOC monies, myself and my children have not. My perp continues to ride the taxpayer wave with cheap housing and work bonuses that barely taxable.

HenryBG said :

kepayne said :

HenryBG said :

The problem is that the entire country spends its weekends watching footballers thumping each other with no ensuing police investigations. The violent boofheads who play stupid games for public entertainment well into adulthood have normalised violence.

Additionally, Mr Ennis’s girlfriend is clearly an accessory to this crime. She knows he’s a violent moron, why’s she choosing to live with him and participating in the circumstances that lead up to these assaults? A bit of personal responsibility is in order, I think.

Do you seriously believe that victims of domestic abuse are ‘accessories to the crime?’ or are you just bored and trolling? I’m praying it’s the latter.

I seriously believe this particular “victim” is indeed.

Why? Because she stayed with him? I hate to break it to you, but that’s not exactly unusual in domestic violence cases. I don’t believe it makes them ‘accessories’ simply because they are scared/have had all their self-esteem completely eroded/are in love/have children and don’t want to break up the home/don’t have the finances to leave or have nowhere to go/are in denial and believe their partner when they say ‘it will never happen again/a variety of other relevant reasons.

kepayne said :

HenryBG said :

The problem is that the entire country spends its weekends watching footballers thumping each other with no ensuing police investigations. The violent boofheads who play stupid games for public entertainment well into adulthood have normalised violence.

Additionally, Mr Ennis’s girlfriend is clearly an accessory to this crime. She knows he’s a violent moron, why’s she choosing to live with him and participating in the circumstances that lead up to these assaults? A bit of personal responsibility is in order, I think.

Do you seriously believe that victims of domestic abuse are ‘accessories to the crime?’ or are you just bored and trolling? I’m praying it’s the latter.

I seriously believe this particular “victim” is indeed.

HenryBG said :

The problem is that the entire country spends its weekends watching footballers thumping each other with no ensuing police investigations. The violent boofheads who play stupid games for public entertainment well into adulthood have normalised violence.

Additionally, Mr Ennis’s girlfriend is clearly an accessory to this crime. She knows he’s a violent moron, why’s she choosing to live with him and participating in the circumstances that lead up to these assaults? A bit of personal responsibility is in order, I think.

Do you seriously believe that victims of domestic abuse are ‘accessories to the crime?’ or are you just bored and trolling? I’m praying it’s the latter.

TheDancingDjinn1:33 pm 20 Apr 12

I know these people, Lisa used to work with my mother. They are both ridiculous junkies who took my mum for a sucker, joe has been beating her for years, they use his domestic violence to get help from people and organisations that’s why he admits it. She will now apply for VOC payout and they will both spend it. They are a joke, lock them both up this is a total snow job.
Lisa even had my mother let her move into the home she owned, thinking she was saving her, he brought joe and the then nine year old boy jess. Then went to housing saying they were homeless and she needed a 3 buddy to escape the horror of her domestically brutal husband, they then gave them a house and they all lived there, cheap rent under the guise that she is a victim. Which she is kind of, but they both use this to their advantage so to me they are stomach turning both of them should be taken in.

The problem is that the entire country spends its weekends watching footballers thumping each other with no ensuing police investigations. The violent boofheads who play stupid games for public entertainment well into adulthood have normalised violence.

Additionally, Mr Ennis’s girlfriend is clearly an accessory to this crime. She knows he’s a violent moron, why’s she choosing to live with him and participating in the circumstances that lead up to these assaults? A bit of personal responsibility is in order, I think.

nyssa1976 said :

buzz, it doesn’t work like that…..

Corrective Services don’t care if a good behaviour bond has been breached. You can have all the evidence in the world – including a confession to police (who were later investigated by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and found negligent) – and CS will do NOTHING. The perp has more of a right to privacy and safety than the victim.

That idiot from the story should have been locked up. Any assault (drunk or sober) should get an immediate jail sentence, especially if the assault is on a child….

Do you know why Corrective Services wont do anything? Because they aren’t an investigative body.

The breach of a good behaviour order comes about when the offender is convicted of another offence, nothing to do with Corrective Services.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back12:50 pm 20 Apr 12

I’d be pretty angry too if my name was written Joseph P. Ennis.

buzz, it doesn’t work like that…..

Corrective Services don’t care if a good behaviour bond has been breached. You can have all the evidence in the world – including a confession to police (who were later investigated by the Commonwealth Ombudsman and found negligent) – and CS will do NOTHING. The perp has more of a right to privacy and safety than the victim.

That idiot from the story should have been locked up. Any assault (drunk or sober) should get an immediate jail sentence, especially if the assault is on a child….

There’s a couple of ways to look at it, yes jail time which seems like the best deterrent would probably have landed him in the clink for 6 months max. After that time there is no parole, no good behaviour bond etc. Essentially after 6 months it is over and one with.

I think the community service should have been more, 100 hours could be wiped out in a month if he was smart about it and approached the right organisations.

The good behaviour order is the only thing that will keep him on the narrow, if he commits any crime he will breach the order, the flip side of this is if he does assault his wife, she will be less likely to contact the Police as the chance of him being locked up is greater.

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