Kasabian Ex-Frontman Tom Meighan's Sentencing Is An Insult To Domestic Violence Victims
Kasabian singer, Tom Meighan, was yesterday sentenced to 200 hours of community service for a sustained physical attack on his girlfriend. The judge commented that “I could have sent you to prison.” Why on earth didn’t he?
Meighan’s actions should have qualified for the most serious category of assault. The attack was sustained over a period of time until the police arrived, and the fact that he tried to strangle his girlfriend means that there was clear evidence of intention to cause greater harm. There were plenty of aggravating factors too, yet, somehow, he skipped prison, sending a message to the millions of women who experience domestic abuse every year that these crimes against us are not serious.
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The music industry has long had intersecting problems with drug and alcohol abuse and violence, propped up by the damaging but enduring template of a Rock God (next time you sing along to Delilah or Hey Joe, consider for a moment the words beneath the song). Unlike other industries, it is yet to have its #MeToo reckoning and there are elements of this case that might explain why.
In his sentencing decision, the judge noted that the publicity that the case would invariably attract was “added punishment.” What he failed to see is that Meighan’s fame, wealth and power are part of the unequal context in which the abuse took place – and if reputational damage is a mitigating factor, then surely powerful men will always get away with domestic violence?
Other mitigating factors were that Meighan does a bit of charity work from time to time, and that he accepted responsibility for his crime at the earliest opportunity. Well, not quite. He denied it until he sobered up and saw the CCTV footage and, according to former bandmates, who until yesterday were still describing...
