Friday 8 August 2008

Woman jailed over bondage death

A woman will spend a year behind bars after being found guilty of the manslaughter of her husband, who died during a kinky bondage session.

A Supreme Court jury in Brisbane took less than a day to find Jean Margaret Meiers, 58, guilty of manslaughter.

During the three-day trial the court was told 47-year-old Geoffrey Braunack died at the couple's secluded home at Beerburrum on the Sunshine Coast on November 1, 2004.

The court was told Meiers failed in her duty of care after taping Mr Braunack's mouth and using rope, tape and a dog chain tied him to a concrete post on the patio.

She then left him tied up while she took a shower.

When she returned, Mr Braunack was not breathing.

Attempts to revive him failed, and it was found he had died of asphyxiation.

Meiers gave evidence in her own trial, telling the court her husband had been obsessed with bondage and that he would beg to be tied up, boasting that he could escape from any situation.

She said she had tied him up hundreds of times before the final fateful occasion.

On the day Mr Braunack died, Meiers said he had been hassling her to be tied up since the early afternoon.

She eventually agreed so he would stop annoying her.

Meiers told the court there was nothing different about the way she tied him up on that occasion, and that she had no reason to harm Mr Braunack.

"I expected him to escape while I was in having a shower," she said.

Meiers told the court she had previously tied Mr Braunack up and then left him alone for extended periods of time - on one occasion she went to work and remained away from the house for 10 hours - and that he had always escaped.

Justice Ann Lyons said it was clear Meiers had not intended to kill her husband, but that she should have foreseen the possible consequences of her behaviour.

"You engaged in a dangerous practice and he was clearly bound too tightly and he was not supervised," she said.

Justice Lyons sentenced Meiers to three years jail, to be suspended after one year.

No comments: