Battered syndrome plea helps woman on death row

A woman on death row will soon taste freedom after the Supreme Court ruled she was suffering from 'battered woman syndrome' when she shot and bashed her sleeping husband.

Last week's landmark ruling has been hailed by women's rights groups that have long battled domestic abuse.

As 10 judges voted to reduce Marivic Genosa's death sentence to six years - a period she has served - a survey released on Friday tried to quantify for the first time the extent of domestic abuse against women.

The survey of 1,200 people conducted in November was funded by two groups, the Women's Media Circle and the Kalakasan (Strength) Foundation, which used the private pollster Social Weather Stations.

Twelve per cent of male respondents admitted they had physically hurt their wives, girlfriends or live-in partners.

Nine per cent of female respondents confessed to having been battered by their men. Two-thirds of abused women said they had been hit more than once; most of the remaining third said they could not begin to count how many times they had been assaulted.

The survey was triggered by the public confession of Kris Aquino, the daughter of former president Corazon Aquino, last September that her lover, Paranaque Mayor Joey Marquez, had poked a loaded gun at her head during a quarrel.