A woman in Australia who was found “not guilty” of both murder and manslaughter after she killed her abusive husband has spoken out for the first time since the verdict.
Susan Falls who appeared at the "A Current Affair" program speaks of her ordeal after killing her abusive husband
Susan Falls who was found “not guilty“ for both murder and manslaughter charges by a Brisbane court which took just 90 minutes had first drugged then shot her husband in the head.
The 42-year-old woman who testified in the court had said that over she was abused for over 20 years by her husband Rodney.
Ms Falls was found not guilty by the court because they had believed he had been violent and abusive towards her.
The abused woman had admitted in court that she had drugged her ex-husbands favorite meal of Curry prawns with a bottle of sleeping pills which she had crushed into it.
The mother of four then went on to shoot her husband in front of two of her daughters.
Falls, also admitted that she had given money to one of her daughters, 16, to purchase a gun which she did for $5,000 with a silencer.
Falls who spoke on the Australian program “A Current Affair” said “When I saw that he’d dozed off, and to me what seemed he was asleep, I went and got changed,”
“I didn’t know how much mess there’d be. I thought once I shot him I will be splattered in blood. I got the gun and the bullets and I remember looking at the two (daughters) and looking at the bullets and thinking, how can something so tiny kill somebody?
“It just didn’t seem real holding them in my hand. I had my arms outstretched the gun was heavy because it had a silencer on it.
“I was shaking so much, so I needed two hands and I just lined it up and fired. I ran behind the cupboards and I crouched down and I pulled the cartridge out of the gun because I was scared that he was going to get up, and if these bullets were still in the gun he’d shoot me.
” The girls were there. I asked them if they still loved me and they said that they did, and then I heard, it was like a tap dripping. And I peered past the cupboard and I could see this blood just coming out of his head.”
Mr and Mrs Falls - Photo by The Sunshine Coast Daily
Ms Falls who saw that her husband was still alive then went on to plan with her daughters what they should do next, before shooting Mr Rodney in the head for the second time.
“A full bottle of sleeping tablets and two gunshots, he was like the Terminator,”
“So, then I went to the laundry and I got a doona because I had nothing else and I thought I’ve got to suffocate him now. But I didn’t want to touch him because I’m still thinking he’s going to get up. I kind of dropped it on him; just as that doona had dropped over his face he took his last breath.”
She also said that after he finally had stopped breathing that she cried due to her ordeal.
“I did cry” said Ms Falls “I can’t say that I cried because I missed him because, he forced me, he pushed me, he gave me no choice.
“When I went to fire that second shot, he had a dry tear stain down his face. I momentarily felt sorry for him, that he had suffered. I thought, well he didn’t feel sorry for me. This was the first and only time that I really hurt him.”
Ms Falls had said in court that the last straw for her was when her husband had threatened to kill one of their children.
She said on the “A Current Affair” program that he had put a piece of paper which included the names of relatives, and according to which name she picked out of the list, her husband will kill that person.
“That’s when he grabbed me by the back of the head and he pushed my head down on the table and said, ‘Pick one’,” Ms Falls said on the show.
“I had no choice, so I picked one. Then I had to open it up and read the name.” she continued while tears poured down her cheeks.
The 4-year-old mother of four also said that he got very abusive over small things such as their three year old child crying or if his food was not prepared to his standards.
Ms Falls said “Later I would ask him ‘why do you keep hurting me? he said I black out and I don’t know half the stuff I do’.
Ms Falls let her husband’s body stay in the room as she had not planned what she would do with the body. She then hired three men, Anthony James Hoare, Christopher Anthony C Creed and Bradley James Coupe to dump the body in a forest.
All three men were acquitted from their crimes but Anthony C Creed, the man who sold the gun to the daughter of Ms Falls, served a community service order for supplying a firearm illegally.
Was the court write to find Ms Falls not guilty, write your comments and thoughts below.
Mrs. Falles should have been found guilty of manslaughter, pre-meditated manslaughter. Not murder and she definitely should never have been found, “not guilty.” She took a life, albeit, the life of a vicious buser. She should have sought for help years earlier, and left her husband.
It’s always easier to simply murder someone you dislike than to pack your things and leave them so long as our courts continue to give women free license to commit murder any time they please and for any excuse, no matter how weak. I find it most interesting that she not only obtained a gun, but a gun with a silencer, which is no easy task without some kind of criminal connections. This reminds me of the girl in Melbourne he kicked a New Zealand man in the testicles three times for mispronouncing her name, sending him screaming to the hospital. The judge refused to even give her a criminal record because, he said, she seemed like a ‘good girl’ and had no record of having done this sort of thing before. No justice, no peace. And this is no justice, that’s for sure.
This article has understandably attracted women who have been the victims of domestic violence. This is an inexcusable crime that deserves the full force of the law and adequate protection for the victim of abuse. However, the issue is NOT whether such a situation is tolerable (which it isn’t!) but a) whether killing anyone on the basis of chronic abuse is acceptable (if so, where does killing end – children against abusive parents, parents against abusive children, vigilantes against violent criminals, vigilantes against pedophiles, rapists, extortionists, corrupt police… politicians… and what kind of chaos would that leave our society in!!!) AND b) whether Rodney Falls himself, although deceived, received a fair trial (I am not convinced from the evidence produced that Susan Falls is telling the whole truth about their relationship and do we have good quality corroborative evidence (for instance from doctors or agencies that have looked after the family for the past 20 years) to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that there was indeed the degree of domestic abuse that she claimed. Someone who could go on television pretending to be grieving about his disappearance and pleading for help so convincingly does not strike me as someone particularly trustworthy, even though she claims she was encouraged to do it by her uncle (sure, she did it reluctantly she said, as she doesn’t like to lie)!
Do not judge unless you have walked in this womans shoes. After 11 years marriage suffering mental, verbal and physical abuse i wanted out of this relationship which involved 2 little boys. Yes i eventually left, He hunted me with a fully loaded rifle,went to my sisters residence, threatening her family. No thankfully the police found him before he found me and my 2 little boys. BUT he only got a slap on the wrist and his rifles confiscated, A criminal conviction recorded, that was all.He and his mother, father and sister continued to stalk me until i went interstate on the advice of my medical practitioner and counsellor. I have since remarried and have a wonderful loving caring husband. 15 years on I still occassionally seek physcological help to deal with issues that i lived through during the most horrible 11 years of my life. Thankfully my 2 young men Now both in their 20’s have gone on to be very successful in their lives, my husband and i have a very close relationship with them both and no they do not have contact with a so called paternal parent, their choice. Domestic violence is not just about physical abuse, you dont have to have bruises showing on the outside, they do occur on the inside and can remain their for may years. Do not judge unless you walk in someones shoes or close to it.
I grew up in an abusive home with an alcoholic father who had a love of total control. I empathise with this dear lady and her children. I think the jury in this case definitely made the right and only decision they could. Be strong girls, ask for help when you need it, I am sure you will all be okay in the long run. Jackson, you too will be okay. My heartfelt good wishes to all of you.
too bloody right!!!!!!!
But before it gets to a court, women who expierience a “FIRST” abuse from a husband, boyfriend etc, should run not walk and never return. an abuser is an abuser is an abuser.
Hooray for double standards.
Go ahead girls, keep killing those guys that you chose to attract. You have immunity. The chivilrous jack-asses and the feminazis will never let you down. So let the murder roll on and go ahead, find a guy you can never handle and when he doesn’t tow your line. Just kill him. Obviously, it’s OK.
wow does that mean everyone can get out of jail for murdering there husbands cause thats what she is a murderer and fancy doing it in front of kids she should be ashamed of herself what is this justice system doing lock her up and throw away the key it sounded pre meditated to me appalling outcome!!!
Why do you promote trash like this. This woman had other choices, if what she says is true. SHe could have left, she could have called police, she could have beaten him, but no. She chose to MURDER him, and she was a coward at that, she had to DRUG him first. AND, she is a child abuser as well, because she did it in front of THEIR children, and even had one of them buy the gun.
It doesn’t get much more disgusting than that. And, the JURY is just as abusive for not putting this woman away. THey send a strong message – kill him, then claim abuse.
Until you experience the terror of physical/mental/emotional/spiritual/verbal abuse in a relationship, and the consequential feelings of helplessness and isolation that occurs, then you cannot fully comprehend the desperate choices an abused person comes to when faced with such terrifying ordeals. I know the damage that a one year abusive relationship did to my thought patterns and ability to process what is real and not real, what is right and not right, so I cannot imagine the damage done with 20 years at the hand of a monster. While I do not condone murder, I can fully comprehend how an abused person could come to that choice, and in some cases even justifiably so. I for one am glad that she was acquitted, and I hope the she and her children are able to get on with life and enjoy a sense of peace and security for once in their life.
What I find interesting is that she admits to giving her daughter, $5000.00 dollars to buy her a gun, that she was going to use to kill her husband. It’s premeditation to be sure. It also makes her daughter an accomplice to the action. The mere fact that she plotted this crime for some time alarms me. Not to mention the gun laws in her country…. Outrageous! And she claims that she has suffered from an abusive husband for 20 years? In this day and age? My ass, this woman is nothing more than a cold blooded calculating killer, who ensnared her own daughters into her criminal activities. Crocodile tears, and a Cobra’s Fangs that what this woman and now her children are composed of. I got $20.00 bucks right now that at some point in the future, her daughter will do the same, make the same plea, and her mommy will be there all the way. Not only to help her plot her own crime, but to coach her on how to get away with it, scott-free!
Guilty of pre-meditated murder in reality but let off under the guise of self defence! This woman mocks domestic violence support groups, refuges etc by giving the impression that they are of no help to anyone. By her actions she claims that the only way to escape domestic violence is to kill the alleged perpetrator.
This case sadly will set a precedence for further murders at the hands of scorned women.
Killing her husband in the presence of her children is cause of grave concern. She has in effect abused her children by killing their father and having them help. They have to live with that ugly mental picture the rest of their lives. This whole case stinks she knew she did wrong because she covered the murder and went on National TV to appeal for help to find him. Evil behaviour. Thanks to the judge and jury in this case you have now given permission to murder and call it self defence instead.
So, if a husband suffers the same abuse and with premeditation enlists the aid of his two daughters to drug, shoot, and murder their mother he goes free. Is that right? Yeah, sure… He’d be thrown in jail faster than Julia Gillard became the PM. Abused or not, Susan Falls, had other options including divorce. If the domestic violence industry is to be believed, abuse is rampant. Industry operatives often propagandize DV as “epidemic”. Of course, such propaganda is patently ridiculous to anyone with an IQ over 90 who can turn on a computer and do rudimentary research. Regardless, the vast majority of domestic violence survivors, male or female, do not murder, they leave, as Ms. Falls should have and could have done. Ms. Falls, her daughter that bought the gun, and the three men that removed the body should be in jail…
It is an outrage that a person can get off completely Scott free from calculated killing without even a manslaughter charge. It doesn’t matter what the excuse, premeditated killing is not a condonable action in this society and should be censured. I for one am not convinced that the woman is telling the whole truth. It is only her word regarding what she says her husband did to her. Anyone who has worked with people in the counselling field should know that the ‘truth’ as told is often quite at variance with actuality. What kind of proof did the court come to, in concluding that her story held a high level of veracity? One certainly can’t take as evidence her uncle, who was an accessory to the crime! The judge’s direction to the jury was very curious. He said that it is not up to Susan Falls to prove that she is innocent, but for the court to prove that she is guilty. Although technically correct, what was he implying? That she didn’t kill her husband? What more guilt is there than the admission that she killed him by her own hand! The Susan Falls court case is an example of one of the shortcomings of our jury-based, subjectively driven legal system (where jurors can be swayed from objectivity by the appearance and performances of people appearing on the stand, and judges play god in their pronouncements).
Mrs. Falles should have been found guilty of manslaughter, pre-meditated manslaughter. Not murder and she definitely should never have been found, “not guilty.” She took a life, albeit, the life of a vicious buser. She should have sought for help years earlier, and left her husband.
We really should simply declare that any woman can legally kill any man. Think of all the money we would save in police expenses and court costs.
It’s always easier to simply murder someone you dislike than to pack your things and leave them so long as our courts continue to give women free license to commit murder any time they please and for any excuse, no matter how weak. I find it most interesting that she not only obtained a gun, but a gun with a silencer, which is no easy task without some kind of criminal connections. This reminds me of the girl in Melbourne he kicked a New Zealand man in the testicles three times for mispronouncing her name, sending him screaming to the hospital. The judge refused to even give her a criminal record because, he said, she seemed like a ‘good girl’ and had no record of having done this sort of thing before. No justice, no peace. And this is no justice, that’s for sure.
This article has understandably attracted women who have been the victims of domestic violence. This is an inexcusable crime that deserves the full force of the law and adequate protection for the victim of abuse. However, the issue is NOT whether such a situation is tolerable (which it isn’t!) but a) whether killing anyone on the basis of chronic abuse is acceptable (if so, where does killing end – children against abusive parents, parents against abusive children, vigilantes against violent criminals, vigilantes against pedophiles, rapists, extortionists, corrupt police… politicians… and what kind of chaos would that leave our society in!!!) AND b) whether Rodney Falls himself, although deceived, received a fair trial (I am not convinced from the evidence produced that Susan Falls is telling the whole truth about their relationship and do we have good quality corroborative evidence (for instance from doctors or agencies that have looked after the family for the past 20 years) to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that there was indeed the degree of domestic abuse that she claimed. Someone who could go on television pretending to be grieving about his disappearance and pleading for help so convincingly does not strike me as someone particularly trustworthy, even though she claims she was encouraged to do it by her uncle (sure, she did it reluctantly she said, as she doesn’t like to lie)!
Do not judge unless you have walked in this womans shoes. After 11 years marriage suffering mental, verbal and physical abuse i wanted out of this relationship which involved 2 little boys. Yes i eventually left, He hunted me with a fully loaded rifle,went to my sisters residence, threatening her family. No thankfully the police found him before he found me and my 2 little boys. BUT he only got a slap on the wrist and his rifles confiscated, A criminal conviction recorded, that was all.He and his mother, father and sister continued to stalk me until i went interstate on the advice of my medical practitioner and counsellor. I have since remarried and have a wonderful loving caring husband. 15 years on I still occassionally seek physcological help to deal with issues that i lived through during the most horrible 11 years of my life. Thankfully my 2 young men Now both in their 20’s have gone on to be very successful in their lives, my husband and i have a very close relationship with them both and no they do not have contact with a so called paternal parent, their choice. Domestic violence is not just about physical abuse, you dont have to have bruises showing on the outside, they do occur on the inside and can remain their for may years. Do not judge unless you walk in someones shoes or close to it.
I grew up in an abusive home with an alcoholic father who had a love of total control. I empathise with this dear lady and her children. I think the jury in this case definitely made the right and only decision they could. Be strong girls, ask for help when you need it, I am sure you will all be okay in the long run. Jackson, you too will be okay. My heartfelt good wishes to all of you.
too bloody right!!!!!!!
But before it gets to a court, women who expierience a “FIRST” abuse from a husband, boyfriend etc, should run not walk and never return. an abuser is an abuser is an abuser.
Hooray for double standards.
Go ahead girls, keep killing those guys that you chose to attract. You have immunity. The chivilrous jack-asses and the feminazis will never let you down. So let the murder roll on and go ahead, find a guy you can never handle and when he doesn’t tow your line. Just kill him. Obviously, it’s OK.
wow does that mean everyone can get out of jail for murdering there husbands cause thats what she is a murderer and fancy doing it in front of kids she should be ashamed of herself what is this justice system doing lock her up and throw away the key it sounded pre meditated to me appalling outcome!!!
Why do you promote trash like this. This woman had other choices, if what she says is true. SHe could have left, she could have called police, she could have beaten him, but no. She chose to MURDER him, and she was a coward at that, she had to DRUG him first. AND, she is a child abuser as well, because she did it in front of THEIR children, and even had one of them buy the gun.
It doesn’t get much more disgusting than that. And, the JURY is just as abusive for not putting this woman away. THey send a strong message – kill him, then claim abuse.
Geez, what is this woman’s world coming to!
Until you experience the terror of physical/mental/emotional/spiritual/verbal abuse in a relationship, and the consequential feelings of helplessness and isolation that occurs, then you cannot fully comprehend the desperate choices an abused person comes to when faced with such terrifying ordeals. I know the damage that a one year abusive relationship did to my thought patterns and ability to process what is real and not real, what is right and not right, so I cannot imagine the damage done with 20 years at the hand of a monster. While I do not condone murder, I can fully comprehend how an abused person could come to that choice, and in some cases even justifiably so. I for one am glad that she was acquitted, and I hope the she and her children are able to get on with life and enjoy a sense of peace and security for once in their life.
What I find interesting is that she admits to giving her daughter, $5000.00 dollars to buy her a gun, that she was going to use to kill her husband. It’s premeditation to be sure. It also makes her daughter an accomplice to the action. The mere fact that she plotted this crime for some time alarms me. Not to mention the gun laws in her country…. Outrageous! And she claims that she has suffered from an abusive husband for 20 years? In this day and age? My ass, this woman is nothing more than a cold blooded calculating killer, who ensnared her own daughters into her criminal activities. Crocodile tears, and a Cobra’s Fangs that what this woman and now her children are composed of. I got $20.00 bucks right now that at some point in the future, her daughter will do the same, make the same plea, and her mommy will be there all the way. Not only to help her plot her own crime, but to coach her on how to get away with it, scott-free!
Guilty of pre-meditated murder in reality but let off under the guise of self defence! This woman mocks domestic violence support groups, refuges etc by giving the impression that they are of no help to anyone. By her actions she claims that the only way to escape domestic violence is to kill the alleged perpetrator.
This case sadly will set a precedence for further murders at the hands of scorned women.
Killing her husband in the presence of her children is cause of grave concern. She has in effect abused her children by killing their father and having them help. They have to live with that ugly mental picture the rest of their lives. This whole case stinks she knew she did wrong because she covered the murder and went on National TV to appeal for help to find him. Evil behaviour. Thanks to the judge and jury in this case you have now given permission to murder and call it self defence instead.
So, if a husband suffers the same abuse and with premeditation enlists the aid of his two daughters to drug, shoot, and murder their mother he goes free. Is that right? Yeah, sure… He’d be thrown in jail faster than Julia Gillard became the PM. Abused or not, Susan Falls, had other options including divorce. If the domestic violence industry is to be believed, abuse is rampant. Industry operatives often propagandize DV as “epidemic”. Of course, such propaganda is patently ridiculous to anyone with an IQ over 90 who can turn on a computer and do rudimentary research. Regardless, the vast majority of domestic violence survivors, male or female, do not murder, they leave, as Ms. Falls should have and could have done. Ms. Falls, her daughter that bought the gun, and the three men that removed the body should be in jail…
It is an outrage that a person can get off completely Scott free from calculated killing without even a manslaughter charge. It doesn’t matter what the excuse, premeditated killing is not a condonable action in this society and should be censured. I for one am not convinced that the woman is telling the whole truth. It is only her word regarding what she says her husband did to her. Anyone who has worked with people in the counselling field should know that the ‘truth’ as told is often quite at variance with actuality. What kind of proof did the court come to, in concluding that her story held a high level of veracity? One certainly can’t take as evidence her uncle, who was an accessory to the crime! The judge’s direction to the jury was very curious. He said that it is not up to Susan Falls to prove that she is innocent, but for the court to prove that she is guilty. Although technically correct, what was he implying? That she didn’t kill her husband? What more guilt is there than the admission that she killed him by her own hand! The Susan Falls court case is an example of one of the shortcomings of our jury-based, subjectively driven legal system (where jurors can be swayed from objectivity by the appearance and performances of people appearing on the stand, and judges play god in their pronouncements).