Woman who poured a 2 litre jug of scalding water over her husband jailed for 4 years

A woman who tried to "boil her husband" by pouring scalding water over him after being told they were "getting divorced" has been jailed for four years.

Ken Gregory, 65, was the victim of a horrific domestic abuse attack which left him with first and second degree burns to his back and scalp after his wife Teresa Gilbertson, a former special constable, poured boiling water over his head in their bungalow in Peterborough last year. The scars from the assault remain and may never fade.

The court heard that the attack had been a “very deliberate attempt to boil her husband.”

Prosecutor Thomas Brown said: “The marriage had become extremely strained and there were underlying difficulties concerning money, the conduct of Teresa Gilbertson and her unrealistic expectation of what he could provide.

“She was demanding money for doing housework and to buy cars.”

On the day of the attack, Gilbertson went to make a cup of tea but returned with a two-litre jug of freshly boiled water, which she poured over her husband's head, causing "excruciating pain."

Roger Harrison, mitigating, said Gilbertson had been provoked when Mr Gregory said, “That’s it, we’re getting divorced.”

Speaking out after the conviction, Gregory said that it was important to challenge the stigma surrounding men who are victims of abuse.

“As a man who is a bit older and who isn’t exactly small, there is a perception that you can’t be a victim of domestic violence.

“But it should be the same message that they put out for women many years ago: don’t be frightened, you don’t have to put up with it.”

The sentence is excessive. The legal system is a joke.

Posted from TSR Mobile

The sentence is excessive. The legal system is a joke.

Posted from TSR Mobile

The sentence is excessive. The legal system is a joke.

Posted from TSR Mobile

An interesting case of domestic abuse against a man rather than a woman. Is 4 years, or essentially 2 with good behaviour, enough? Would the sentence be the same if the sexes were reversed?

Sorry, what?

Don't you know the vaaaaast majority of abuse is men on women, right?
Come on....get with the programme.

More than 40% of domestic abuse victims are male.

I would have put her away for life. Since that guy is going to have scars for life

Lol, you have such a warped sense of "justice".

lol. That man is going to suffer for the rest of his life. She should as well.

OR

Have boiling water poured on her face. That'd be fair

A part of me isn't mad at the boiling water idea.

Cited from where? I don't doubt the statistic, I'm just curious. Either way, it's not commonly held knowledge that men suffer from a lot of domestic violence. It's one of these issues that's largely considered a predominantly female problem - as the man attacked in this story explains. There's a perceived stigma for men to admit they're being abused by women.

Light sentence. Attempted murder no?

The NHS says the rate was just over a quarter of cases in 2010 (http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/abuse/Pages/domestic-violence-against-men.aspx). Determining the rate is difficult, though, partly for the reason in bold.

It's not the only reason, though. When men do report domestic violence to the police, their partners are not removed from the house (as men are in 40% of cases), threatened with immediate arrest (as men are in 28% of cases), arrested at a later point (as men are in 10% of cases) or arrested at all (as men are in 15% of cases). In 12% of the cases, in fact, the men are themselves arrested.

(The above are US stats)