The Family That Stays Together

Social wisdom has it that people should not rush into intimate relationships without knowing the calibre of the person they're getting involved with.  Shared values and similar backgrounds help, enormously.  A long acquaintanceship beforehand would be a huge help. 

Those who claim it was love at first sight, and marriage or move-in ensues after a brief 'friendship' of weeks or months are just looking for trouble.

So then, how about having known someone of the opposite sex away back in grade school?  And then, years later, re-connecting and gradually assuming a mature and committed relationship.  Sounds a whole lot more hopeful, of course.  By then, one could logically assume a fairly deep understanding of the other person, their personality, their priorities, what was held in common.

Logical, common sense.  But then, on second thought, there's nothing particularly logical about human emotions, human perceptions, human behaviour in total.  People are not necessarily how they appear to be; we all have deep-seated reactions and emotions held in check, not readily available to other peoples' scrutiny.

And that appears to have been the case with a woman who had been childhood friends at age 12 with a man she had attended school with.  They had a five-year relationship as adults, and had a child together.  And everything seemed really fine, on the surface.  The man, Robert James Johnston, described his life with his wife as "Perfect.  Like living in a fairy tale".

Something about that fairy-tale-perfect relationship must have disturbed Mr. Johnston's wife, however.  She informed him when their daughter was 19 months of age that she no longer wanted to be with him.  And he responded by launching a brutal three-hour attack on his wife.  The woman suffered broken facial bones with a forehead gash so deep bone was visible.

When she was eventually rescued from that attack where her husband attempted to throttle her, break her neck, suffocate her, and kept banging her head on a bathroom faucet, on the hardwood floor, she needed five litres of blood administered by an emergency trauma team desperate to keep her alive. 

Police, when they arrived, broke down the door even while he once again tried to stuff a comforter in her throat while pinching her nostrils shut. When police kicked in the door the man was found to be covered in blood, but not his own. 

Mr. Johnston's wife testified in court that her husband had become controlling and possessive.  When she had attempted to fight back and protect herself, he viciously raped her.  "This is what you wanted", he repeated, while she pleaded for him to call an ambulance.

Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey in sentencing the man to ten years in prison said: "The woman you loved was naked and bleeding and needed  your help and your response was to continue to assault her."  Some love, that.  The man has eight years and four months of his sentence left to serve, after being given credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial.

His wife will have eight years to breathe easy.  And then what?