samedi 16 mai 2009

"He slipped and fell onto the knife..."

Now here’s an interesting story from the New Zealand Herald.

A prostitute has been convicted of murdering her lover/client for his “infidelity”. Now that’s a remarkable piece of hypocrisy in itself. This woman was working as a prostitute, and complains that her lover was seeing prostitutes. Well, I wonder whether she ever refused a would-be client because he had a girlfriend, fiancée or wife...or was seeing another prostitute?

Anyway, there is one passage that really takes the biscuit:
Here, the stories diverge. According to police, she plunged the knife into Shadbolt’s chest, penetrating his heart and lungs. That wound alone would have been fatal, but she stabbed him eight more times in the back, the throat, the torso, shoulder and arms.

According to Neale’s defence, Shadbolt came running at her with his arms out, screaming obscenities, but slipped on the wet floor and fell on Neale’s knife. Neale, now 39, has directed her defence lawyer, Barry Hart, to appeal [against] her conviction.
OK, so he rushed at her screaming obscenities, but slipped and fell on the knife. Then what happened? He got up again, and slipped and fell on the knife again...eight more times?

You have to wonder at the mentality of the writers and sub-editors at the paper. The whole story, from the headline (“Squalid end to ad man's high life”) to the last sentence ([quoting the convict’s mother] “Dionne wants people to know she wasn't just a prostitute”—as if anybody could be “just a prostitute” or “just a translator”), seems calculated to paint the woman in a sympathetic light and vilify her victim. The guy sounds like a bit of a loser, even allowing for some licence on the part of the writers, but murder is murder and what he is alleged to have done to provoke it was hardly any kind of a threat to her. It’s a grubby little story involving two grubby little people, and it’s very hard to feel any sympathy for either of them.

And another thing: I hate lazy writers who leave out prepositions. You appeal against a decision; you don’t “appeal a decision”.

Oh, by the way, I assure you it is only coïncidence that my first two postings involve sleazy sex stories and a woman as the principal bullshitter. I will try to strike a balance over time.

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