Sikh man found guilty of domestic violence, rape in New Zealand
Friday, 14/03/2014
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
MELBOURNE: A Sikh man was found guilty of domestic violence and sexual attacks against his Indian wife by a court in New Zealand.
The man was on Wednesday found guilty by a jury at the Napier District Court on multiple counts of rape, assault and threatening to kill for a series of attacks against his wife in 2012.
The man cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, who came to New Zealand from India after wedding him in an arranged marriage, NZ Herald reported on Thursday.
The jury spent more than four hours deliberating on Tuesday and Wednesday, before returning guilty verdicts on eight charges and a not guilty verdict on one charge.
The court heard the man kept a 45cm-long knife by their bed to intimidate and frighten his wife into having sex. He also physically abused and threatened to kill her. Police in Hastings said the woman, who broke away from her arranged marriage to tell them of her husband’s recurring sexual attacks and beatings, was particularly brave, the report said.
Police detective Rob Parker said it showed domestic violence and that type of abuse “exists in all facets of society, it doesn’t matter the culture or the demography”. “...this complainant has been particularly brave. She had no one to turn to. Not only was she battling the cultural aspect, but she was in a foreign country,” he said.
