Two appeals by women convicted of the murder of their respective abusive male partners will be considered by the Court of Appeal in December. A panel of three judges will hear Farieissia Martin’s renewed application to appeal her conviction on the morning of 3rd December and a separate panel of three judges will consider the full appeal by Emma-Jayne Magson at an all-day hearing on 10th December.
Ten months after Sally Challen’s successful criminal appeal, the group who campaigned to overturn her murder conviction, Justice for Women, are supporting two other women who seek to challenge their murder convictions. The campaign group, who are supporting a major research project on women who kill abusive partners conducted by the charity Centre for Women’s Justice, are highlighting the injustice women who have been subject to coercive control and domestic violence face when tried for killing their abusive partners. They argue that many women who have killed their violent partners are wrongly convicted of murder because the criminal justice system has failed to keep up with the increased understanding we now have of how coercive control operates and can impact on a victim’s response.
Farieissia (Fri) Martin was just 22 years old, a young mother to two small children, when she was convicted of the murder of her partner Kyle Farrell in 2015. Fri stabbed Kyle with a kitchen knife during a heated argument in which Kyle had attempted to strangle her. She is serving a minimum tariff of 13 years. Fri had experienced years of violence and coercive and controlling behaviour at the hands of the deceased but her defence team at trial failed to obtain evidence of its impact on her mental state. Following her conviction, her family contacted justice for women and a new legal team obtained medical evidence supporting a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder caused by the previous violence she had been subjected to and highly relevant to her mental state at the time of the offence. Earlier this year Fri’s application to appeal was rejected by the same single judge, who had also rejected Sally Challen’s application to appeal in 2017. Fri will be represented on 3rd December, by the legal team behind Challen’s appeal, Harriet Wistrich and Clare Wade QC (Garden Court Chambers).
Clare Wade QC is also representing Emma-Jayne Magson (instructed by solicitor Louise Bullivant of Aitken Harter solicitors).Emma was granted leave to appeal by the full court in November 2018 Her appeal against conviction will be heard on Tuesday 10th December. On 4th November 2016 Emma, then aged 23, was convicted of the murder of her violent partner, James Knight who had died of a single stab wound. On 7th November 2016 she was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years. On Tuesday 10thDecember, the Court of Appeal will consider fresh evidence in relation to two grounds of appeal. The first ground involves the availability of fresh evidence showing that at the time of the offence Emma was suffering from an Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder which stems from her childhood exposure to domestic abuse in the family home, bullying and the death of her sister.
The second ground of appeal is focussed on Emma’s failure to participate effectively in her trial. Another expert will give evidence of Emma’s neurodevelopmental and comprehension difficulties to show how she understood little of the proceedings at trial. It will be argued that the appointment of an Intermediary throughout the full trial process would have been appropriate given Emma’s disadvantages. Emma did not give evidence so her experience of domestic abuse, both as a child witness and adult victim was not heard by the jury.
Harriet Wistrich said of both cases:
“We hope the growing understanding of how domestic violence and coercive and controlling behaviour can trap women in very abusive relationships will assist the appeals of two women who, at most, should have been convicted of manslaughter not murder. Both vulnerable women killed in desperate circumstances, yet at trial the context for their actions was not properly understood or explained, resulting in serious miscarriages of justice .”
Louise Bullivant added, “In Emma Jayne Magson’s case, she was additionally disadvantaged due to her neurodevelopmental difficulties which prevented her full participation in the trial process”
Family members of both women appealing their convictions with be present at the court of appeal and can be available for comment.
Justice for Women invite supporters to join them outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand at 9.30am on 3rd December and 10th December. More details about these cases can be read here - Emma-Jayne Magson / Fri Martin . A documentary about the case of Sally Challen will be screened on BBC2 on 9th December at 9pm.
ENDS
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Nic Mainwood, Justice for Women in the first instance – justiceforwomencampaigns@gmail.com