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hotrodshotrod

Wife beater Brendan Lionel Howe of Homes by Howe, is that the same Brendan Lionel Howe that bashed his 8 months pregnant wife?


Vita-West

I believe so, yes, that's admitted domestic abuser Brendan Lionel Howe who also called his unborn child a c\*\*t.


cakecrater

This blows my mind. Don’t get me wrong, everything else he did was truly appalling. But this is next level. What an absolute degenerate.


Appropriate-Tap-4866

The Homes by Howe guy? Cross him off the list


speedd8r

Yes it is


Zealousideal_Rub6758

But the [governor general recommended him](https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/29/governor-general-david-hurley-apologises-for-video-praising-builder-who-renovated-his-home)???


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CapnHaymaker

In six months most people won't remember the story behind the name. And he will likely be operating under a new name anyway. How many people research whether the owner of a company they are about to purchase a product with is a convicted DV offender.


ghost_turnip

The judge noted that he showed no remorse and STILL didn't give him prison time??? The judges in this city are a fucking joke.


ArachnidInteresting5

Cool, so what does it take to get actual consequences for domestic abuse in the ACT? Second question, how is the ACT justice and police going to ensure this woman and her young daughter are proactively kept safe from this man? And finally, when can we expect our judges to finally read up on narcissism?? > “The lack of genuine remorse is consistent with his sense of entitlement and his inflated sense of importance,” the judge said. > However, she was satisfied he had good prospects of rehabilitation and was at a low risk of reoffending.


frank_Blitz

There's a 3-part strategy for piles-of-refuse-and-spiders-in-a-suit like Howe: 1. Enter a guilty plea (usually on the strong advice of their lawyer) → upfront reduction in sentence 2. Say *the words* "I'm sorry," this case highlighting that it doesn't matter how genuine it is → has an influence in sentencing, but usually relied on for appeal 3. Scrape together as much evidence as possible that ties the crime to substance abuse and/or mental illness; then show that some rehabilitation has been organised or started → indicates "good character" when sober and a "willingness to change", and the mental illness/substance abuse angle is likely to ensure that any custodial sentence is suspended for positive optics and statistics It's a trend I came across when I was a budding journo doing research on ACT courts and (unfortunately) personal experience with domestic violence and the judicial system.


carnardly

a Marcus Rappel or Al Harazi I guess.... both murdered their wife/partner.


Rude-Oven-1098

Pathetic sentencing per usual.


ren-dez-vous

Absolutely!


Real_RobinGoodfellow

I’m the least pro-incarceration person out, but this outcome appalls me. What sort of a message does it send when you can get more jail time for tax fraud than this joker gets for hideously abusing his partner.


greatbarrierteeth

He’s at risk of a bigger fine from safework if they came to his site and found an untagged power lead.


Real_RobinGoodfellow

RIGHT!! Infuriating


flogadollar1920

He should be doing time in the big house. Coward dead beat


ghrrrrowl

“Howe also threatened to kill her in 2021” that alone is a prison sentence in 88% of cases (Victoria). “315 charges of make threat to kill were sentenced in the five years to 30 June 2022. The most common sentence for a charge of this offence was imprisonment (88%). The shortest prison sentence was less than 1 month, the longest was 4 years, and the median was 1 year.” [Make threat to kill Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) s 20](https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sacstat/higher-courts/6231-20-make-threat-to-kill-hc.html) (Sentencing Council Victoria)


Zealousideal_Rub6758

I’m so glad the [governor general recommended this builder](https://amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/29/governor-general-david-hurley-apologises-for-video-praising-builder-who-renovated-his-home)… 🤦‍♂️


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katiekenbehren

I agree this sucks as death threats are heinous, but this happens all the time in the city and elsewhere, plus in DV cases. Death threats are unfortunately ignored by the ACT legal system most of the time. I know APS workers for Health, Industry etc in Civic who can’t eat in certain outdoor-facing places or have to walk a particular path back from lunch breaks due to constant threats by someone upset they were once not given money or were asked to stop harassing someone. With DV you’re obviously confined in small spaces with this abuser/threat-maker and that’s awful. Still, it’s a Canberra-wide issue. Death threats are seen as unfortunate but “tolerable” these days and it should not be like this.


ziddyzoo

Oh. Well, I suppose if he is a builder and has won awards for it, he must be a sterling chap. Case dismissed, and I hereby award the defendant ten guineas and a new hat.


Real_RobinGoodfellow

Yeah and that $1800 fine is *really* gonna break the bank for this guy also. Really hit him hard where it hurts. Ffs what a joke


Equivalent-Bonus-885

People like this with the means should pay the costs of the court system in processing their case as well as damages.


blither_blather_blah

They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity… but on occasion it’s not true. I suspect he won’t be winning any awards anytime soon and the business will definitely see a swift decline in jobs/profit. I note though it wouldn’t be that way and few would even know about this matter if the victim didn’t give permission to be identified.


ziddyzoo

Yes, it is a good thing she stood up and did that. That way information about the convicted criminal and wife-beater Brendan Lionel Howe from Canberra can be found online much more easily. I think if I was considering doing business with Brendan Howe from Canberra I’d want to know he’s a convicted criminal who repeatedly assaulted and terrorized his wife.


ArachnidInteresting5

Yes, but then again: https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/s/dilWTJOIHi


katiekenbehren

Brendan has been punching down in terms of bullying behaviour for a long while. He picks on people when he has or thinks he has the upper hand. I’ve no bad personal experiences with him but many others have over a long period of time. Anger and entitlement issues. If you differentiate some of the trumped-up Google reviews from the more candid, genuine ones, you see it with clients. I know some of his former peers at St. Edmund’s and he had a pronounced nasty streak there, too, but expressed it in a cowardly way.


ArachnidInteresting5

Thank you for speaking up about Mr Howe’s mistreatment of others even though you weren’t affected personally. (Many people will stop at “I’ve had no bad experience with him”, which is precisely how the Mr Howes of the world get to keep offending in plain sight) There’s a Reddit thread from some years ago about Canberra builders with more candid reviews of the Howe business, I’ve linked it elsewhere in the thread.


katiekenbehren

Sadly it won’t stop people from gravitating towards a proven DV offender. Regardless of your political stripe, Reddit skews more conscientious than the general population. We believe in accountability and fairness to a greater degree than others, frequently discussing these issues at length. I work in healthcare and I can tell you that Dark Triad male types are more popular with women often than non-Dark Triad men. A lot of men respect them more as associates, too. The studies are very sad and sombre. Serious criminal offenders and their supporters/excusers have built their own little world here in Canberra. I hate to say it, but 10-20% of the population loves to back the criminal as an “interesting, cool” friend or date. I’m all for men speaking out against DV and holding offenders to account, but my fellow women can be just as obsequious toward DV offenders.


ArachnidInteresting5

Yes I see what you mean here. It’s like there’s a built-in, defensive deflection mechanism among bystanders that the offender couldn’t *possibly* do anything to *them*. Meanwhile the manipulative abusers will happily take everyone around for mugs and pawns.


katiekenbehren

Yes, you’re right. The perversely sympathetic men feel they can be good mates with male DV offenders and the like-minded women, as disgusting as it sounds (but they do think this way), believe the DV is just the other woman’s problem. I have seen this time and again with my healthcare profession. The most vocal defenders in person of DV men, the ones my colleagues and sometimes I have called security/police on, have been hanger-on women. Not always, but many times these women pursue the men, despite knowing their extensive rap sheets and other unsavoury behaviour. I want to see DV eradicated as much as, if not more than others do. But a spade is a spade. DV enabling is nearly as much a female issue as a male one. I don’t even think it’s about mugs and pawns all the time. Their supporters generally know who these people are, they just attribute moral blame to the poor victims. Like I said, 10-20% of the population are motivated to take the side of serious criminals they know are criminals, even if they themselves are not serious offenders.


Mr_Gilbert_Grape

I have seen where women leave one DV relationship only to end up with a worse offender as she needs to feel safe from the first. I guess there is a lot of hope in "if I am the perfect partner it won't happen to me " or "he said he loves me more, so I will feel more worthy/special than the others if he treats me right"


s_and_s_lite_party

Bullies are usually cowards. It usually stems from self insecurity.


Fearless_Librarian17

We have first hand experience of this except we pushed back. His threats got worse…his favourite one is defamation and to get you to sign a NDA…we refused.


katiekenbehren

I don’t think he’s super short per se, but he’s definitely not tall and has been described as having “functional short man syndrome”. He’s also said to have “never gotten involved in a fair fight in his life”. His abuse of his now former wife while she was heavily pregnant echoes this. Many of the people he has crossed during and after builds have been older middle-aged office types or professional young couples/families. They have financial means but aren’t your masculine blue collar types. I’m not demeaning people who aren’t tall here - he just seems to have an emotional and physical chip on his shoulder. He wants to be Mike Tyson or Connor MacGregor, knows he isn’t, and lashes out in “punching down” ways. Some people on this Subreddit have described him as a psychopath; my take is that he’s more just grossly insecure and feels inferior. Being insecure and feeling inferior is no excuse at all for DV, yet psychopaths and sociopaths are a different kind of breed.


ArachnidInteresting5

All sounds like a standard narc to me. (And I’m stealing “functional short man syndrome” for future use :))


ArachnidInteresting5

It’s not even textbook anymore, but paint-by-the-numbers… (Sorry you had to deal with this headache. Hope you can at least feel vindicated now!)


TGin-the-goldy

Still a coward


rudalsxv

Put him in jail. Death threats should be an automatic jail sentence.


pumpkinblerg

What the actual fuck is going on in Canberra courts. This absolute cunt is what jails were made for


Hungry_Cod_7284

Limp wristed judicial system at it again. Anything happens to this woman and the piss weak Justice should be held to account


tortoiselessporpoise

What is upsetting is how the judge said he has no remorse but has good rehabilitation potential. What does that even mean. So he's going to pretend all the time that he is a better man while deep down he riles at being a good person? He'll be coming back in a few years, maybe plus dead wife and baby Wouldn't be surprised if the judge gave him a bj for being a good citizen after that, since he built houses for Canberrans


hannahspants

Jesus fucking Christ


[deleted]

[удалено]


ArachnidInteresting5

Thank you for speaking up and confirming a pattern of behaviour (and I’m sorry you’ve crossed his miserable path). On that, it baffles me how unfit-for-purpose the (adversarial) police and court systems are in identifying the patterns of behaviour of domestic abusers and sexual assaulters. Oh the easily available, relevant evidence an inquisitorial approach could find… Exhibit B: https://www.reddit.com/r/canberra/s/dilWTJOIHi


badgersprite

The Australian justice system really just out here declaring open season on women


Enngeecee76

Get fucked 😐 do they have to kill us before they go to gaol? Lock him up.


Dav_1089

Can we give him another award for fuckhead of the year?


jonquil14

Resurrect the Mully Cup


IraSnave

Being a woman is just peachy.


TGin-the-goldy

Certainly safe! /s


[deleted]

Great, we now have judges that support domestic violence.


personaperplexa

I hope the sentence is appealed.


edwardsonn

Absolutely scum. Should’ve been jailed


Technical_Image2145

Why even bother putting him on trial? Like 7 months is inadequate and then suspending it? If this doesn’t warrant time in prison wtf does?


rebekahster

Howe TF he get off?


Rude-Oven-1098

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-06/act-builder-brendan-howe-repeated-assault-ex-wife-pregnant-court/103945178 Non riotact source


burleygriffin

>A Canberra judge has described a man who pleaded guilty to an aggravated assault on his heavily pregnant wife as showing no genuine remorse and only being sad for himself… > >…Howe wrote a letter to the court taking responsibility for his actions. > >But Justice Taylor said it had been carefully crafted so as to not link the offences to the impact they had on the victim… Nek minnit: >But Justice Taylor found he was motivated to change, and had good prospects for rehabilitation. > >Howe was sentenced to seven months in jail, but that has been suspended. > >He will also serve a good behaviour order for 12 months and will have to complete 50 hours of community service. I can't begin to imagine the effects of this outcome for the victim.


AnnualPerformer4920

Soooo this is getting ridiculous. When do we as a community start pressing for real justice in this country? These sentences are comical, and yea this "sentence/fine" is insulting to victims everywhere.


digitalelise

Another ridiculous sentence for an abuse case and we wonder why cases of partners being murder are going up.


G80trey

Anyone know the ex-wife and if she is okay? Does she get full custody of the child in this aftermath? This gives me eery Tara Costigan vibes. Angry man, about to lose everything, what else is there to do than to take from the person that has so much anger toward?


Greendoor

What do you have to do to get gaoled in a domestic violence case?


forfooksake69

Kill them


propargyl

[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-06/act-builder-brendan-howe-repeated-assault-ex-wife-pregnant-court/103945178](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-06/act-builder-brendan-howe-repeated-assault-ex-wife-pregnant-court/103945178)


Jackson2615

Justice Louise Taylor . Yet another fail by the ACT Court system, the whole country is demanding tougher action on domestic violence yes despite the horrific things this guy did , the judge lets him walk free. Pathetic


g2615

Fucking pathetic especially in the current climate with awareness of how bad the situation is. Years of abuse and no jail, wtf


belgium-choc

What kind of BS is this. Fucking hell that poor woman.


seamus11

Lots of anger in here at the pathetic sentencing but until we get different results at an election nothing is going to change. At this point it's abundantly clear that regardless of how warm and fuzzy it makes do gooders feel inside the "harm reduction" non-carceral nonsense is a complete failure when it comes to domestic violence. As a city we have to decide whether we would rather feel morally superior or actually do something (that is, lock up violent criminal fuckwits). I wouldn't hold my breath though...


Jackson2615

The ACT Courts, Judges and Magistrates are a pathetic joke when it comes to sentencing, especially for domestic violence cases like this. Its time for the Parliament ( ACT Legislative Assembly) to step in and mandate a mandatory minimum sentence for such cases. If the Judges wont do their job then the Parliament will have to do it for them.


nickelijah16

Ugh that these scum can breed with ZERO controls pusses me off to now end. jail and sterilisation for these scum is the only way to protect society and future children.


BJJ411

By no means am I saying I agree with the sentence, but he was never ever going to see the inside of a jail cell for the offences he was charged with, if you thought otherwise you haven’t been paying attention. In this instance the hand of justice will come down significantly harder in the form of reputation damage.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Hungry_Cod_7284

This is where you press delete


randomgrasshopper

And there's the BUT