Justice advocates and a GP have called for "urgent" law reforms after a woman was choked to death inside a Wagga unit in 2019.
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Mhelody Bruno died after being choked during sexual intercourse by Rian Ross Toyer, who she had met on a dating app.
In sentencing, Judge Gordon Lerve said, considering the evidence of Toyer and the agreed facts, he was "satisfied on balance that the deceased not only consented to the act of choking but actually instigated it on the first occasion on which they had sex".
He also said there could be no doubt that the conduct engaged in by choking the deceased was inherently dangerous.
Toyer was sentenced to 22 months in jail, with a non-parole period of 12 months.
Hayley Foster, the CEO of Women's Safety NSW, said a sentence of less than two years' imprisonment for strangling a woman to death would cause concern across Australia.
"It does highlight the need to update the Crimes Act, section 37, which deals with choking and strangulation," she said.
"At the moment, one can utilise the excuse of consent so as not to be captured by those provisions. That is a concern to us given there is no safe level of choking or strangulation."
Ms Foster said that the NSW Attorney-General is examining the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in NSW.
From there, she hoped there would be reform for "the woefully inadequate sentencing" around domestic murder and manslaughter.
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Ms Foster said Mhelody Bruno's death is "another unfortunate case" that shows an urgent need to reform legislation around consent.
"The accused in this matter had admitted he never [verbally] asked, but the onus was placed on her to resist that or to say she didn't want it," she said.
"The onus should be on the person seeking that consent."
Ms Foster said those convicted of fatal one-punch assaults while under the influence of drugs or alcohol face a minimum eight-year sentence.
However, there is no minimum sentence for manslaughter or choking or strangulation.
"If we want to end violence against women in this country, we have to start treating the murder and manslaughter of women as seriously as we do for men," she said.
Dr Anita Hutchison, a representative for Doctors Against Violence Towards Women, said there is no safe level of strangulation, and the laws need to reflect that.
She also added that she feels the burden of proof always falls on the victim in those circumstances.
"We have no way of knowing her end of the story because she is deceased," Dr Hutchison said.
"There has to be a significant deterrent; otherwise, we will end up with a spate of women being killed and the defence being it was a consensual sex act."
Kate Walton, a member of the Women's Justice Movement, echoed those concerns and said there needs to be explicit consent.
"Women, women of colour and transgender women of colour may not feel as though they can voice their concerns in such a situation because of the power dynamics," she said.
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