Friends and family of Dundee fatal stabbing victim Marie Low have launched a petition to have her killer’s “lenient” prison sentence reviewed.
Siobhan Russell, 31, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison last week after being convicted of killing grandmother-to-be Marie Low on September 4 2016.
A jury found her guilty of culpable homicide after she struck 36-year-old Ms Low with a knife in a confrontation on Ballantrae Terrace.
A judge told Russell at the High Court in Edinburgh that the jury had rejected her plea that she acted in self defence and found she was not provoked into assaulting the other woman.
Natalie Clark, 27, who is the partner of Marie’s brother Kevin, has now started a petition on change.org calling for the Crown Office to review the sentence.
She said: “She could be out in only three years or so and she’ll still be in her mid thirties. It’s nothing.
“I think she should have been put away for at least 10 years for what she did. It’s just far too lenient.
“We’ve heard that the Crown Office are unlikely to change their minds but what we hope to do is to show that the public do not think this is sufficient.
“It’s a symbolic gesture more than anything. We want as many people to back this petition as possible.”
The Crown Office has stated that “as with all cases” it will consider the sentence and give consideration as to whether it might be “unduly lenient”.
It is understood it has 28 days to lodge a formal appeal.
Ms Clark added: “The whole family is unhappy with the sentence as you can imagine.
“We just want to do everything we can to challenge it.”
In the days following the sentencing decision, Albert Low, Marie’s father, welcomed a review of the “paltry” prison time.
He said: “I thought it would have been a minimum of eight to 10 years.
“Although I don’t agree with the sentence, some justice has been served.
“I have to commend the police for the way they led the investigation.”
