Supreme Court: Can be determined as intentional homicide with "minor circumstances", wife cannot tolerate domestic violence to kill husband case | Yao Moumou | Supreme Court

This afternoon, the Supreme People's Court released the top ten typical cases of domestic violence in China, one of which occurred many years ago and attracted attention. Through this case, the Supreme Court points out that if a woman who is subjected to violence kills the perpetrator due to unbearable domestic violence, it can be considered as intentional homicide with a relatively minor circumstance.

The defendant Yao and the victim Fang are married and have four children after marriage. Fang and Yao have been married for more than ten years, and they have been punching and kicking Yao when things don't go well. In the second half of 2013, Fang had an extramarital affair and intensified his physical assault on Yao in his daily life. On the noon of August 16, 2014, Fang assaulted Yao again in the third floor employee dormitory of a factory in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, where he worked, due to trivial matters. That night, he also filed for divorce and demanded that Yao bear the cost of raising his two children alone. The next morning, Yao had the idea of killing Fang in despair, helplessness, and resentment. While Fang was sleeping, Yao struck him several times on the head with a threaded steel pipe in the dormitory, and then used a kitchen knife to cut his neck, resulting in Fang's death on the spot. After committing the crime, Yao called 110 and stayed at the scene waiting for the police to arrive. After the incident, the parents of the victim Fang expressed forgiveness for Yao's behavior and requested a lighter punishment for Yao.

The court's effective ruling holds that Yao killed Fang with weapons due to unbearable long-term domestic violence, and his behavior constitutes intentional homicide. Based on the confession of the defendant and the testimony of 10 witnesses in the case, it should be determined that Fang committed long-term domestic violence against Yao during his marital life. The defendant Yao silently endured the domestic violence committed by the victim Fang for a long time, but eventually rebelled against Fang's coercion to divorce and raise two underage children alone. His motive for killing was not despicable; Although Yao used two types of weapons and inflicted harm on the vital parts of the victim during the murder process, and admitted to having a mentality of venting anger and retaliation, combined with the opinions of domestic violence experts, Yao belongs to a woman who has been subjected to domestic violence. Her seemingly cruel act of killing the victim by outsiders actually has an inherent consciousness: it is to avoid retaliation for more serious domestic violence. After committing the crime, Yao did not hide, conceal or destroy the evidence. Instead, he took the initiative to call the police and truthfully confessed his criminal facts. He led the investigators to find the kitchen knife used in the crime, which had the characteristics of confession and repentance. In summary, Yao's means of committing the crime were not particularly cruel, and the criminal circumstances were not particularly heinous, which can be considered as intentional homicide with a relatively minor circumstance. Yao surrendered himself, and the parents of the victim, Fang, expressed understanding towards Yao. Considering that Yao still has four underage children to support, he was given a relatively lenient punishment. In summary, the defendant Yao was sentenced to 5 years in prison for intentional homicide.

It is reported that this is the first case in which the Anti Domestic Violence Opinions of the Two High Schools and Two Ministries were applied to classify the situation of violent women using violence to control violence as intentional homicide with "relatively minor circumstances". It is also the first case in the country where the opinions of domestic violence experts and witnesses have been adopted.

During the trial of this case, personnel with expertise in law and psychology were hired to provide expert opinions to the court. Experts on domestic violence can appear in court to receive inquiries from various parties, revealing the essential characteristics of domestic violence and the interaction patterns between the perpetrator and the victim in domestic violence relationships, helping the court restore the truth about the facts related to domestic violence in the case, especially the impact of domestic violence on the victim's psychology and behavior patterns. This can assist the court in accurately determining the cause, fault responsibility, and causal relationship between domestic violence facts and criminal behavior, which are closely related to conviction and sentencing, and avoid the risk of misjudgment caused by the lack of professional knowledge on the psychological and behavioral effects of the victim caused by the interaction patterns of both parties in domestic violence relationships.

The court, based on the defendant's behavior and the general opinion provided by expert witnesses on violent women in court, determined that although the defendant Yao used two types of weapons and inflicted harm on the victim's vital parts during the killing process, the main reason for his use of the above-mentioned methods to kill the victim was to prevent the subjective motivation of the victim to commit more serious domestic violence before their death.

The Supreme Court stated that the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its general recommendations, as well as relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, require that "gender factors should be fully considered and victims should be at the center of the trial process." The testimony of the expert witness in this case also describes the impact on victims of long-term domestic violence. According to research by the World Health Organization, long-term domestic violence may bring various serious physical and mental effects to victims of domestic violence. For example, individuals gradually lose faith and motivation to change their own situation after long-term exposure to unavoidable negative stimuli or difficulties, and develop a helpless and powerless mentality, which is called learned helplessness. These effects may affect women's understanding of the degree, danger, and expected outcomes of violence, as well as their judgment of the countermeasures and behaviors they take when domestic violence occurs. This judgment complies with this international standard.