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NSW parliamentary inquiry recommends partial reform to provocation law

This article was first published at The Conversation on the 24th April 2013.

Yesterday, the NSW parliamentary Select Committee on the Partial Defence of Provocation released its final report. The report contains a set of recommendations for reforming a defence that has long attracted criticism.

The committee’s final report shies away from closing the door on provocation completely. It recommends a model of reform that retains but restricts this controversial partial defence.
The report is the result of an inquiry that was formed last June in response to community outrage surrounding the trial and sentencing of Chamanjot Singh, who was convicted for killing his wife, Manpreet Kaur.
 

Singh successfully argued at trial that he was provoked to kill his wife because of suspicions of infidelity, disparaging comments made about his mother by his wife and her sister’s husband, a belief the relationship was ending and that consequently he would be deported. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a minimum of six years imprisonment.
 

 

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