Jail term for fatal stabbing of partner
Stabbed in the neck, chest and ear, Peter Mcpherson burst from the campervan and slumped on the grass, bleeding to death surrounded by strangers, calling for help while his wife shouted abuse at him.
Knowing those were his last moments still keeps his children awake at night, feeling confused and betrayed, and wondering how they could have stopped it.
Ann Shirley Balkind’s jail sentence, handed down at the High Court in Blenheim yesterday, is little solace for Mcpherson’s family and friends who say the loss of the man they knew as ‘‘Dingle’’ is a life sentence. ‘‘To have my dad taken from me so violently at [the age of] 27 is something I will never move on from,’’ Ethan Mcpherson said in his victim impact statement.
‘‘She took a valuable life, and still gets to live hers. I will never forgive Shirley for what she has taken from us.’’
Balkind pleaded not guilty to murder, and told a jury in June she was acting in self-defence when she stabbed her husband at a campground in Kaiko¯ura in January last year.
The Southland couple had argued about Balkind’s alcoholism, with several other campers giving evidence about a heated argument in the campervan that evening, followed by the sound of a man begging for mercy. Balkind said Mcpherson had threatened to kill her kitten if she did not stop drinking. He cornered her in the campervan, punching her repeatedly when she lashed out with the kitchen knife, she said.
The jury found her guilty of manslaughter. Crown prosecutor Jeremy Cameron said at her sentencing that noone except Balkind knew for sure what led to the stabbing. ‘‘But the defence need to accept the killing was not justified ... it was extreme violence.’’
Balkind claimed she could not remember much of the attack. A psychological report said it was possible the traumatic nature of the event had caused ‘‘sustained amnesia’’, but it could also be ‘‘malingering for strategic purposes’’, Cameron said. There was no evidence Balkind was suffering from battered woman syndrome, when victims of prolonged abuse develop emotions and behaviours similar to posttraumatic stress disorder.
However, her parents’ abusive relationship could have affected the way she related to intimate partners, Cameron said. A probation report said she continued to justify her actions, and shift the blame on to others.
She appeared depressed and upset during the trial but the psychologist said it was more likely to be distress about her circumstances, than true remorse.
Balkind’s lawyer, Rob Harrison, said his client was initially assessed as not fit to stand trial. ‘‘She was experiencing profound guilt and a firmly held belief she deserved to be punished. I would think that would suggest a genuine remorse.’’
Balkind’s claim of self-defence aligned with the forensic evidence.
She had moved to New Zealand several years ago and all her family lived overseas, Harrison said. She had no previous convictions for violence, though she did have two driving convictions involving alcohol.
Justice Karen Clark sentenced Balkind to four years and three months in jail.