• 2 years ago
• Posted in:Assault/Wounding, Criminal damage/vandalism, Domestic violence, Stalking/harrassment/threats, Violent Offences
• 0
• Author: Trans Crime
• Tags: Aged 20-29, Berkshire, Coercive control, Convicted 2022, Domestic violence, England, Female victim, Hampshire, Offended 2022, Partner victim, Police /courts using defendant pronouns, Reported as a man, Thames Valley Police, Trans man

Alicia/Dylan Smithson, a violent female who identifies as a transgender man, was convicted at Reading Crown on 28 October 2022, of two counts of ABH, one count each of coercive and controlling behaviour and affray, and one count of criminal damage. In November 2022, Smithson, 23, was jailed for two years and nine months.

Smithson’s victim spoke out following the verdict and told of how she constantly feared she’d be accused of ‘transphobia’ if she reported Smithson to the police. She described the catalogue of domestic violence perpetrated against her over the two years that she and Smithson were married. This included punching her, falsely accusing her of cheating, beating her with a clothes horse and a steam mop, threatening her with knives, isolating her from family and friends, smashing her phone and controlling her social media and preventing her from wearing make-up or certain clothes. On Boxing Day 2021, Smithson pushed the victim down the stairs at their previous home in Aldershot, Hampshire, causing her to break her foot. Even on their wedding day, Smithson threatened to punch the victim. In addition, Smithson told a female friend of the victim who witnessed one of the incidents, that the victim would be killed if police were called, causing her to fear for her life. In local media reports and police comment, no mention of Smithson’s transgender status is made, with Smithson described as a ‘Slough man jailed for domestic abuse’ against a woman. The victim is then quoted as wanting to especially support those in the LGBQT+ community to report domestic abuse, and how it is widely viewed as a heterosexual man against a woman – this makes no sense in the context of the article being written as if it actually is a man perpetrating the violence again a woman and has the effect of obscuring violence within homosexual relationships.

Image credit: Thames Valley Police via Daily Mail

Media reports

Slough and Bucks Observer https://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/23098769.slough-man-jailed-domestic-abuse/ archive

Slough Observer https://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/23098862.dylan-smithson-slough-victim-speaks-abuser-jailed/ archive

Berkshire Live https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/domestic-abuse-victim-wants-inspire-25426181 archive

Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11727577/I-beaten-controlled-transgender-husband-physically-smaller-me.html#article-11727577 archive