Wife beater gets off after 8 yrs of violence

(ANSA) - Turin, January 3 - A man who beat his wife so badly she had to be taken to the ER nine times in eight years was cleared of domestic-violence charges Wednesday after a Turin judge said the acts were "only episodic".
    Prosecutors filed evidence that the woman was "repeatedly struck, with punches to the face and kicks that landed her on the floor".
    Asking for three years and nine months in jail for the 41-year-old man, the prosecutor said the woman had been "subjected to continuous attacks and humiliations" and been "forced to live in a state of prostration, both physical and moral".
    The judge, on the other hand, found that "a subjection of the woman to a series of continuous vexation such as to cause continuous discomfort, incompatible with normal living conditions, has not emerged".
    The man got a suspended sentence of six months for violating his obligation to assist his wife.