An end to New Zealand's controversial Partial Defence of Provocation is a step closer today as a parliamentary committee has recommended it be abolished. The Crimes (Provocation Repeal) Amendment Bill is designed to strike out the partial defence, which has on numerous occasions allowed the killers of gay men to successfully argue that their victim's sexuality was an understandable contributor to their death. The Bill should be passed into law, said MPs in the justice select committee today. The committee's report notes however that the law change "would not prevent the sentencing judge from using his or her discretion under section 102 of the Sentencing Act to take into account the existence and degree of provocation-related considerations, together with any other relevant aggravating or mitigating factors, to determine whether a sentence of life imprisonment would be "manifestly unjust" for an offender convicted of murder. "We acknowledge that there might be extreme instances where it would be justifiable for a sentence less than life imprisonment to be imposed by the sentencing judge." The committee had considered 14 submissions from interested groups and individuals, including LGBT advocacy group Rainbow Wellington, who labelled it "a homophobic hangover which should long have been done away with." The Bill must now be read in Parliament a second time, with all MPs voting for it to be debated further, or scrapped. Several MPs from a across a range of political parties voiced their support for the Bill's progress when it passed its first reading in August.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Monday, 19th October 2009 - 7:16pm