Coercive control victim, Farieissia Martin: Judge imposes severe sentence for the manslaughter of her violent partner requiring her to spend additional time in custody
Farieissia (Fri) Martin, a young mixed-race woman from Toxteth, Liverpool was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after she pleaded guilty to the manslaughter (no intent) at Liverpool Crown Court today. Fri had killed her partner and the father of their two children, Kyle Farrell after he attempted to strangle her. She had previously been convicted of his murder in the same court six years previously on 28 May 2015. Following a campaign by Justice for Women and Fri’s family, her conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal on 16 December 2020 and a retrial ordered.
Background:
Farieissia (Fri), who was 22 at the time of the original conviction and mother to two children aged one and two years old, killed Kyle Farrell with a single stab wound in 2015 as he attacked her in their Liverpool home. In December 2020 the Court of Appeal quashed her conviction for murder after considering fresh evidence from four experts instructed by both defence and prosecution, who all agreed that Fri was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at the time of Farrell’s death, as a consequence of the physical, sexual and emotional abuse she had been subjected to during their five-year relationship. Lady Justice Carr sitting with Mrs Justice Yip and His Honour Judge Philip Katz QC, quashed the conviction following this hearing and ordered a retrial.
The Crown Prosecution Service rejected repeated representations by Fri’s lawyers to drop the murder charge and offer a plea to manslaughter. Instead, Fri remained in prison separated from her young children and the case was prepared for a retrial which was due to commence on 17 May. In a dramatic volte face, on 18 May the CPS reversed their position, after new evidence came to light supporting Fri’s claim that Farrell had strangled her following a row which led to her grabbing a knife and inflicting the fatal blow with a single stab wound. Had the photographic evidence of bruise marks to her neck, taken when she arrived in custody, been disclosed by the police at the time of her original trial, she may not have been convicted of the murder
Following conviction, Fri, with the assistance of new lawyers and the campaign group, Justice for Women, submitted grounds of appeal in July 2018 however, she had to wait 2 and ½ years before the Court of Appeal quashed her conviction and ordered a retrial.
Mr Justice Dove sentenced Fri to a period of ten years imprisonment for the manslaughter which failed to acknowledge the evidence supporting her account of strangulation. He sentenced her additionally to a consecutive sentence of nine months relating to a second offence of possessing a mobile phone in her cell and a Bic razor blade which had been dismantled. He accepted her account that she had used the phone to speak to her children and the blade for making card picture frames for them. The offence occurred when she had been locked in her cell for 23 hours a day and had not seen her children for many months. The additional sentence means she must spend a further period of approximately six months in prison before being eligible for release on licence.
Following the sentencing, Fri Martin told her lawyers that whilst disappointed that she would not yet be re-united with her children, but she was delighted not be labelled a murderer.
Harriet Wistrich, her solicitor at appeal and Director of Centre for Women’s Justice said, “we are shocked at the severity of sentence and the ferocity of the judge’s comments. This was a woman who was subjected to severe sexual violence, physical and emotional abuse from the deceased and whose actions were motivated by fear after an attempted strangulation. When contrasted to the five-year sentence handed down to Anthony Williams who strangled his wife to death for no reason – it feels like we have gone backwards for women who are victims of domestic abuse.”
A catalogue of failings which led to a miscarriage of justice:
Fri and the two young children who have been deprived of her care for six and a half years, were failed by the criminal justice at every step of the process:
She was failed by the police who didn’t disclose the photograph which was taken on arrival in custody, and which revealed bruise marks to her neck supporting her account of strangulation
She was badly let down by her original legal team at trial who failed to explore the pathological evidence adequately and failed to properly explore the history of abuse she had been subjected to by the deceased. They also failed to obtain psychiatric evidence which would have shown she was suffering from PTSD that impacted on her responsibility for the stabbing
She was failed by the legal aid system which refused her request in the lead up to the first trial to change solicitors after she was put in touch with a female lawyer who understood domestic violence.
She was convicted by a jury who were not given all the evidence setting out the history of domestic abuse or crucial evidence which supported Fri’s account of the events leading to the stabbing.
Fri was failed by the CPS who, despite possessing compelling evidence which would have enabled them to offer a plea to manslaughter insisted in proceeding with a retrial. That decision meant Fri remained in custody for a further six months (under the restrictive lockdown regime) whilst awaiting a retrial.
Finally, she was failed by Mr Justice Dove, the trial judge who failed to take account of the evidence of strangulation that led to the CPS offering her a plea and failed to grant her the credit she was due for offering to plead to manslaughter at the earliest opportunity.
Ultimately Fri was failed by a criminal justice system which does not deliver justice for women who are subjected to domestic abuse.
Fri was represented at trial by Clare Wade QC and Paramjit Ahluwalia, instructed by Sally Middleton at Birnberg Peirce.