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The mother of a toddler crushed to death against school gates by the 4x4 of a drink driver said today: 'Every day is a living hell.'

Tina Woods, 31, was speaking after a woman was jailed for seven years for causing the death of her 15-month-old son Finlay.

The boy was in his pushchair with his mother when a Toyota Hilux veered towards them outside Selwyn primary school in Chingford last September.

At the wheel was Katie Gutierrez-Perez, 40, who was driving to hospital after a failed suicide attempt and had binged on drink and sleeping pills.

Witnesses said that after the initial impact the 4x4 repeatedly rammed into the gates, each time crushing the pushchair, Snaresbrook Crown Court in London heard.

Twenty parents and passers-by tried to lift the car off him but he died of severe head injuries.'

This story may indicate we've moved to a new stage in our treatment of women who kill their husbands: if she alleges abuse, don't bother filing charges. Kill your husband, claim abuse, walk away. There's no indication the wife was in immediate danger nor are details provided about the man's alleged "pattern of violence."

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"More than a year after the shooting death of Trinidad attorney Jim Tatum by his wife Ann, a court-appointed prosecutor has decided not to file criminal charges.

The shooting in the Tatum home just outside Trinidad ended a stormy marriage. Although Ann Tatum never denied shooting her husband multiple times in their kitchen — the event was witnessed by a deputy sheriff — Jim Tatum's pattern of violence against her surfaced early on as a possible legal defense."

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'Chaim Kimel, 55, died on the operating table at St Vincent's Hospital, just hours after an argument about the couple's catering business turned violent.

A jury earlier this year found Stewart, 32, not guilty of his murder but guilty of manslaughter.

In court yesterday, Stewart was sentenced to four years and six months in jail, with a non-parole period of four years.

She will be eligible for release in June 2011.

Stewart sobbed as Justice Jane Mathews spoke of her history of drug and alcohol abuse, anorexia and self-harm; she had suffered the childhood traumas of her mother dying of breast cancer and of sexual abuse by three different people.
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Stewart had told psychiatrists she believed Mr Kimel to be dominating her in the relationship. But Justice Mathews said whatever perception Stewart had of her husband's behaviour, it was probably "designed to shield her from her own excesses.'

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'Saying she wanted to avoid putting her children through another ordeal, a Colorado Springs woman accepted a plea deal Friday and admitted she poured gasoline on her five children and lit them on fire, killing one.

Maria Darlene Gardner, who also uses the last name Joseph, pleaded guilty to child abuse causing death and four counts of child abuse causing serious bodily injury. The deal was mediated Friday before Senior 4th Judicial District Judge Richard Toth.

In exchange for her pleas, prosecutors Jeff Lindsey and Debbie Pearson dropped charges of first-degree murder and 11 other charges.

Gardner, 26, will be sentenced to between 75 and 85 years in prison Feb. 20.
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"I thought we could win with the insanity defense," McHenry said. "An expert psychologist examined her within four days of the fire and decided she was completely psychotic at the time. She chose to do this so her kids would not have to be put through the trauma of testifying in open court."'

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'Authorities say an Allen woman accused of killing her husband was determined to finish the job but made no attempt to flee the bloody scene.

Charles Shanks, 49, was stabbed, beaten with a stone and had his wrists cut in the couple's home Sunday, police said.

His wife, 51-year-old Kimberly Shanks, was being held Tuesday in the Collin County Jail, charged with murder. Unlike most people in her situation, she smiled for her mug shot.
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She was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. No attorney had been named to represent her, according to jail records.'

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'Domestic abuse against men — yes, it happens. You’re going to have a hard time finding statistics, because reluctant as many women are to report abusive husbands or boyfriends to the authorities out of fear of his retaliation or because they’ve been conditioned to accept the abuse, men are even less likely to pick up the phone, dial 911 and say their wife or girlfriend just went upside their head or threw a pot at them.

If a man has a hot-headed, heavy-handed woman to deal with, there are reasons he doesn’t say or do anything about it except hope she doesn’t wind up maiming or killing him. For one, it’s embarrassing to have it look like she can whoop his butt. For another, in certain states, all she has to do is claim she was defending herself and that she is in fear of him when the cops show up. Whether it’s true or not, he promptly finds himself treated to a free ride downtown where he’s accorded an insider’s view of the county jail — from the wrong side of the bars.'

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'JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A woman was sentenced Tuesday to time served for her role in the confinement of her son, then 9, who authorities say was kept locked in his bedroom for almost three years and monitored by a video camera.

Earlier in the day, Michelle Piercy pleaded guilty to child neglect and told prosecutors that the 809 days she had spent in jail were less stressful than living in the home her husband turned into a prison for their son.

Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper accepted a prosecutor's recommendation that she be sentenced to the more than two years she's already spent behind bars, and she was released from custody.

Her husband, Randall Piercy, was sentenced earlier this month to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse. Michelle Piercy is seeking a divorce.'

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'A woman who pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing her husband after a night of drinking in West Utica last April, was sentenced in County Court today.

Jady Voce, 43, of Saratoga Street, Utica, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter before Judge Barry M. Donalty in November.

She was sentenced to 10 years in state prison today, plus five years post-release supervision, court clerks said.
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Voce used a pocket knife that she carried for protection to stab her husband in the liver while at the corner of Lenox Avenue and Court Street, police said. Joseph Voce bled to death as a result of his injuries.'

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'MANITOWOC — A 22-year-old Manitowoc woman faces several criminal charges following a violent argument with her husband Friday that endangered the couple’s two young children, according to Manitowoc Police Department reports.

Ashley R. Fonda faces charges of domestic violence-related damage to property, domestic violence-related disorderly conduct and second-degree reckless endangerment. The incident occurred at 4:45 a.m. in the 300 block of Riverview Drive.

According to police:

Fonda and her husband got into an argument Friday while a babysitter was watching their 1½-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son in the same apartment. Fonda allegedly began throwing things, tipped a garbage can over, knocked over furniture and threw a pot of food at her husband, smashing into the door of her child’s room and putting a hole through it.

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'A former exotic dancer, who falsely accused Michael Flatley of rape, has been told by an American judge that she faces jail unless she cooperates with his lawyers as they seek to recover $11m in damages.

Tyna Marie Robertson tried to extort $30m (€21m) from the Riverdance star after saying she would go public with false allegations that he had sexually assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2002.
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Robertson was later brought before Cook County judge Alexander White who told her she must cooperate with Mr Flatley's lawyers who are seeking documentation of her assets.

"This is your get-out-of-jail pass. If there is no cooperation . . . We are talking about civil contempt. I will put you in county jail for six months. No questions asked," he added.'

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'In 2005, life expectancy at birth was almost seven percent higher for American women than for American men (80.4 years for women vs. 75.2 years for men). Governments could certainly reduce this life-expectancy inequality by redistributing medical research funding on women's health to research on men's health, and general medical care funding from women to men. Consider that men are more likely to die from prostate cancer than women are from breast cancer. Yet in 2005 federal expenditures for prostate cancer research were $390 million compared to $698 million for breast cancer research, and the American Cancer Society contributed almost three times as much for breast cancer research ($98 million) as for prostate cancer research ($36 million).'

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'IRVINGTON, N.J. (AP) -- An Irvington woman charged in the stabbing death of her 5-year-old nephew has been found innocent by reason of insanity.

Jasmine Collins was accused of stabbing Meshach Collins of Orange to death while the boy was at her house to play with his cousins in November 2006.

Authorities say she had changed her clothes and was arrested by police walking a few blocks from her home across the border into Newark.

Superior Court Judge Peter Vazquez ruled Tuesday that Collins was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Essex County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Paul Loriquet says she is being held in a state hospital until she is determined to no longer be a danger to herself or others.'

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'The Food and Drug Administration, criticized by its own scientific advisers for ignoring available data about health risks posed by a chemical found in everyday plastic, said yesterday it has no plans to amend its position on the substance but will continue to study it.

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'A Leeds woman has been jailed for life after stabbing her partner to death in a row over whose turn it was to buy booze from the off-licence.

David Rider, 44, bled to death after Lesley Buck, 40 , pictured, thrust a kitchen knife through his leg as he sat on the sofa.

When police and paramedics attended her house in Belle Isle, Leeds, Buck seemed more interested in reading the newspaper and watching TV, a court heard.

After delivering the fatal blow, Buck walked to a phone box to dial 999 and claimed her partner's injuries were self-inflicted.
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Ordering Buck to serve a minimum of 10 years before being considered for parole, judge Scott Wolstenholme, told her: "It was senseless, drunken and lethal violence on your part which has caused a man to lose his life."'

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