Silent Death

Book excerpt: Journalist Karen Kissane follows the accused into the courtroom, telling the inside story of one of Australia’s most controversial trials and the marriage at its centre. A compelling combination of great writing, true crime and courtroom drama. Julie and Jamie Ramage were the perfect middle-class Australian couple with everything: children at private schools, he a company director and she a financial controller for a fashion house. But Julie walked out of their seemingly perfect marriage. And then, one day, he killed her. Beneath the veneer of perfection there had lain a relationship marred by affairs, obsession and a history of violence. Jamie confessed to the killing - but declared that he had been provoked and therefore not guilty of murder as his wife had driven him over the edge. Jamie's defence of provocation was successful and he is now serving a prison sentence for the lesser crime of manslaughter. The woman he strangled the life from and buried in a shallow grave had no voice in court and no way of telling her story. Silent Death tells Julie's story - but also takes us into the disturbing wider situation - how a killing took place in the comfort and security of a moneyed life; how friends and family either didn't see or think they should be involved. And it is the story of how a court case is about tactics and procedure first - and justice second.