Words matter
Not literally “whole” though.
It’s not his whole life. It’s what remains of his life, but that’s not the whole of it. It is in fact a much smaller piece of his life than the piece he stole from Sarah Everard by murdering her after he raped her. He’s 48.
I don’t think that he can be punished enough for what he did to her. He’ll probably make friends in prison, play chess, get a skill, lift weights, watch television, read some books, brag about what he’s done…
I’m not an advocate for the death penalty, but in some cases I’d be willng to reinstitute torture, sleep deprivation, waterboarding, that sort of thing.
I think abuse of power should have additional punishment attached. Not that there is more that can be done in this case, if he really is is going to die in prison. But generally. People who are given the kind of power that police officers have over others should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us, how else can we trust them? And that should include things like off-duty police officers accessorizing their handcuffs on a night out. That’s your work gear, and it’s not on you unless you are working, or on your to or from work. There’s no way of knowing if he would have still done what he did, but it shouldn’t have been so damn easy. A witness saw him handcuff Everard and figured it was an undercover cop making an arrest, I can’t imagine having to work out how to not let that memory haunt me forever.
Such an organized, premeditated, crime. The degree of malevolence and hatred are staggering. Was this ‘just’ the breakthrough of an escalating evil, or have we just begun to uncover what Couzens has done over the years?
True. I hadn’t really thought of it before but imagine being Couzens all that time driving to Dover with her in the car in helpless terror.