The cold, hard logistics of this case make for pretty horrifying reading. Regardless of what mitigation she may offer, she is clearly a very sick and troubled person and for that reason she needs help. She also needs to be put in a place where she can no longer be a danger to hers or anybody elses children.
It seems the state is going to impose the latter, whether or not they fulfil their obligation to the former is another question. Whether she ever receives parole in the future is another thing altogether.
Her crimes are horrible and society's disgust at that is to be expected...... and yet......
Not for the first time, a case of this nature seems to have gone on for a number of years before a situation arose where it came to light, or whereby it could no longer be ignored.
When reading of such instances, I often wonder who else would have known something was happening to these children. For instance, the report states that one child had to have some toes amputated. Did the doctors at the hospital not question how the situation that required such drastic action arose..? Were the social services not informed..? Did nobody suspect, and then follow up on their suspicions..?
In no way at all am I making any sort of excuse for this woman. Don't think I am. But the agencies that are responsible for the welfare and safety of children are put there to spot this sort of thing. When children appear in hospitals, requiring that sort of surgery, questions should be asked. Yes, such individuals can be cunning and deceitful in covering their tracks, but properly trained investigators, doggedly pursuing an enquiry would sooner ir later elicit the facts, I'm sure.
There is also the possibility that this woman may be actually telling the truth about not remembering, or not having any concept of timescale. It's possible. That avenue should be explored because if one person can have such a condition, then so could another and it is important to learn from cases such as these so that the symptoms might be spotted in other people and possibly avert suffering to another child in the future. To simply pooh-pooh her statements and thus ignore them is to stick our heads in the sand and refuse to learn from this awful experience.
I think this woman does need help. She must serve her sentence, no question, but she must be helped whilst incarcerated and in doing so, we would learn from her at the same time. Learn how to spot these symptoms in others and hopefully put that knowledge to good use in the future.
Mere punishment alone is revenge. Revenge makes bad justice.
Society has to learn from such cases and in doing so become better educated. That is justice, tempered with compassion, the process of which serves society as a whole much better in the long term.
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Mar 17, 2011 @ 02:22:20
i just feel bad for the kids to have to go through what this b**** put them through i mean my brother was beaten up when he was a kid by my drunken father so no kids should go through that and also hasnt she ever heard of birth control damn to have 6 kids thats alot of kids and to be pregnant again with a 7th kid damn.
