Just Another Little Murder: A Brother's Pursuit of Justice
By Phil Cleary
Allen and Unwin, 2002
$29.95
REVIEW BY ERIN CAMERON
The murder of Vicki Cleary in 1987 shook her family to the core, but what was to devastate them even more was the outcome of the trial of the man who so brutally took her life.
Just Another Little Murder, written by her brother Phil, tells of the violence Vicki Cleary suffered at the hands of Peter Keogh, her partner over a four-year period. After Cleary ended her relationship with Keogh, he stalked and terrorised her, culminating in her being stabbed to death in the car park of her work in August 1987.
What should have been a straight forward murder trial took a dramatic turn when the charge of murder laid against Keogh was reduced to manslaughter on the grounds that Cleary had "provoked" him. He was sentenced to only four years' jail for his brutal crime. This left the Cleary family outraged and broken.
Just Another Little Murder is written in a raw, honest way that is refreshing to read. It conveys to the reader the anger and frustration that the Cleary family has had to endure.
Many times throughout the book, Phil Cleary blames himself for not taking action to prevent his sister's murder. He ponders how things would have been different had another turn of events taken place on the day.
The tragedy is that under the current system of law, nothing was going to save Vicki Cleary. If she hadn't have been attacked that day, it would have been another day. Keogh was determined to punish the woman who dared disobey him.
The book provides an insight into the legal system that has failed many women who have been victims of domestic violence attacks. Especially in cases of women murdered as a result of domestic violence, the "blame the victim" mentality prevails.
Until there are changes to the legal system, and until campaigns are fought and won to change it so that women are protected from violent partners, women will continue to be killed for trying to escape oppressive and violent relationships.
Just Another Little Murder is in no way voyeuristic. It is a journey into the reality of a family when murder enters their lives. It is a direct and articulate account of what many other women have suffered. It profiles an inept legal system that does not provide the protection and justice sought by the victims of domestic violence.
The story of Vicki Cleary is a jolting reminder of what can go horribly wrong when avenues of support are closed and when violence against women is seen as justified in any way. Vicki Cleary should not have died, but her story must be told.
From Green Left Weekly, November 27, 2002.
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