Simon Gittany Case Study

The offender, Simon Gittany, was born in the Western Sydney suburb of Merrylands in 1973. Gittany has five siblings, all of which were raised in Australia after his parents emigrated from Lebanon. Although large, there is no evidence to suggest that it was an abusive or neglectful household. Rather, psychologist Anna Robilliard describes the family as being “loving” and “close knit” (R v. Gittany, 2014). At the time of the homicide, Gittany was 37 years old, and was an owner of various business ventures including a women’s online shoe company called Shoe Candy (Ralston, 2013). He lived with the victim in a luxury apartment block where rent is upwards of $1500 a week, suggesting the couple were living an upper-class life and were not struggling …show more content…
In the judgement on verdict, Justice McCallum expressed 'There can be no doubt the accused was controlling, dominating and at times abusive of Ms Harnum” (R v Gittany, 2013, s 212). Furthermore a psychologist, Anna Robilliard, was tasked with assessing Gittany’s physical and mental health. The report revealed "Highly elevated and statistically significant scores" on the scales for "schizoid", "depressive" and "dependent" personality. Donald Venes (2013, p. 2090) describes Schizoid personalities as “severely introverted; socially isolated; lacking close personal relationships or the ability to form …show more content…
As evidenced by Dobash and Dobash (2008) only 39% of IPH offenders have a General Certificate of Standard Education or above, and 51.5% were usually unemployed. On the other hand, Gittany achieved a higher school certificate and has been regularly employed up until his arrest. In regards to childhood, a significant percentage of IPH offenders had broken relationships with parents and family and had trouble at school (Dobash & Dobash, 2008). The limited evidence available suggests that Gittany had a close and loving relationship with his family and his violent and disruptive behaviour did not begin until