4.50PM: Cabinet has just approved a bill, to be put forward to Parliament later this week, aimed at abolishing the partial defence of provocation provision in the Crimes Act. Over the years numerous killers or attackers of gay men have had a charge of murder downgraded to a verdict of manslaughter, or have even walked free, on the basis that an advance or perceived advance by a homosexual man was considered provocative enough to cause such understandable loss of control that the victim was killed for his ill-advised action. This use of the partial defence of provocation provision has come to be known as 'gay panic defence.' Although the provocation defence did not work in the just-concluded Clayton Weatherston trial it is suspected to have been a significant factor in a jury's finding last month that Hungarian tourist Ferdinand Ambach was guilty of manslaughter, not murder, when he bludgeoned to death elderly gay Onehunga man Ronald Brown in response to an alleged sexual advance. Justice Minister Simon Power A spokesperson for Justice Minister Simon Power says drafting of the bill began earlier this year in response to Law Commission recommendations publicised in 2001 and 2007. Power has described the defence as a "reward for loss of self-control." As a Government sponsored bill, and with many opposition MPs favouring the abolition of the defence, it is likely to sail through Parliament relatively unimpeded. The spokesperson says the Justice Minister decided to wait until after the highly-publicised Weatherston trial concluded before moving on the Bill. A similar Bill drafted largely by gay Labour MP Charles Chauvel was drawn from the Private Members Ballot last week but that is now likely to superseded by the Government Bill. Power's spokesperson says the minister wanted to move quickly and pointed out that the Labour government had had since at least 2007 to draft and table its Bill.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 3rd August 2009 - 12:08pm