Should a man who kills his female partner be treated differently than other murderers?
Three years ago, a North Carolina State University student was found dead in her home. Just last month, her killer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
That man was her partner. Erick Gael Hernandez-Mendez was someone Christina Matos trusted and loved, she’d even been helping with his citizenship application.
Five days after he became a US citizen, he killed Christina.
“She wanted to help him because he was a kind man – well, that’s the facade he put up for her,” her brother Abraham Matos told The Independent.
“After he got what he wanted – after only five days – he stabs her to death over 16 times.”
Mr Matos and their mother Yolanda Matos are still reeling from the loss of Christina and have since become aware of the growing epidemic across North Carolina and the rest of the country: femicide.
Femicide is the gender-related killing of women and girls, usually by a current or former romantic partner. The terms “femicide” and “homicide” both describe the intentional killing of another person, but they are not synonymous.
