I WAS shocked when I read your article Life in jail for postman who murdered wife (May 16). I felt really upset when I read how the perpetrator of this vicious crime of killing his wife brutally and beating her for the last five years was portrayed by M

I WAS shocked when I read your article "Life in jail for postman who murdered wife" (May 16). I felt really upset when I read how the perpetrator of this vicious crime of killing his wife brutally and beating her for the last five years was portrayed by Mr Justice Cooke.

Andrew Evans was portrayed as if he were the victim and his wife the perpetrator.

The questions to ask here are: When and why did Mrs Evans become a borderline personality and when did she start to drink and, if his life with her was so unbearable, why didn't he leave her, get a divorce and continue to let her be looked after by the mental health service, social services, etc?

She obviously didn't need him to beat her for the last five years of her life to feel better or get better and then to be "spontaneously" killed by him, as reported in your article.

Domestic violence mostly happens behind closed doors. Men can be charming, helpful, work for charities and still be wife beaters or paedophiles.

In my teenage years I experienced domestic violence through my stepfather whom my mother married when I was 14 years old. I could write a book about those years.

He tried to strangle my mother and I rescued her. He attacked me on many occasions, too. I was physically and verbally abused by him. I started to drink alcohol in those years to drown out my fear of him.

I lived in this hell for four years until he threw me out. My mother escaped one year later to my one-room flat. This time he nearly managed to kill her.

This happened many, many years ago, but I still have to deal with the effects of my abuse. Domestic violence happens on all levels of society.

There is no excuse for domestic violence. Even 13 years in prison aren't enough - if Andrew Evans really spends those years in prison. Surviving victims mostly have to deal with the effect of domestic violence for the rest of their lives.

By the way, my mother wasn't a borderline personality, didn't drink and still was nearly killed by her husband because he was the problem and had a problem.

Lastly, Andrew Evans said: "Nevertheless, she is my wife. She is ill and I love her and want to take care of her."

Well, he has shown how he has taken care of his wife, Leonie, especially for the last five years of her life which ended in the ultimate care for her by killing her through blows to her head, kicking and stamping on her while lying helpless on the floor.

I ask myself: What has domestic violence got to do with love?

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