In less than two weeks, Stanford, who was charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, will be free. 

This is the same man who has pawned off Ms Scott’s rings, the same man who seemingly showed no remorse for his or his brother’s actions in phone recordings after the murder. 

Normally news doesn’t get a one-sided reaction in a newsroom, but this announcement was met with anger and disgust.

Stanford’s sentence was backdated after already serving 15 months in prison, which in my opinion, still wasn’t long enough. 

This is not the first time where justice hasn’t been done for a woman who was murdered and is part of an overall problem with violence against women in this country. 

On May 1, 2012, the body of Allison Baden-Clay was found in a creek outside of Brisbane. 

Her husband, Gerard Baden-Clay was found guilty of her murder more than two years later before his murder charge was downgraded to manslaughter. 

The community was outraged and thankfully and even amazingly, that outrage led to the Director of Public Prosecutions attempting to appeal the downgrade, but there is still a possibility of Baden-Clay walking the streets as a free man. 

How many more young women have to die at the hands of violent men? 

How many more of these violent men will be slapped on the wrist? 

What sort of message does that send to violent men? 

Australia has long had a problem with violence against women – too many women are trapped in violent relationships, too many women are blamed for the actions of a violent partner and too many women die at the hands of someone they loved and trusted. 

All of the women in my life, myself included, are lucky.

We have men in our lives that love us, that care for us, that wouldn’t dare raise a hand at us. 

Marcus Stanford isn’t a murderer but to allow him to walk free after such a short jail stint sends a seriously scary message – that justice will not prevail for men who stand by and allow this to happen to women. 

Kelsey Sutor