12 years

[B00]

Is there only me who feels terribly sorry for this woman?

http://www.dailymail....-jailed-12-years.html

[Mick-Talbot]

Should mental problems ever be a defense in murder?


No imo.


Thanks, sher... I did get that wrong, seems the childs father is more forgiving than me, I would want to pour more antifreeze down her neck in his position.

[andres]

She wasn't deranged when feeding confidential information out.I can't feel pity for these people who kill their innocent children just to take revenge on their husbands,wives or partners.There have been too many of these crimes over the last few years.

[dotty.]

I think the clue is in the reports from the prosecution about the attempt made to initially dispose of evidence and then clean up, perhaps the woman was trying to depict a third party was involved? That isn't the action of someone irrational, that's someone in panic. I also think that the statements from the prosecution whitness regarding the suffering the child went through after the attack and the fact that the woman was able to make the decision to clean up but not get help for her fatally wounded child also points to a reason she was given 12 years. No doubt the prosecution obtained expert analysis from those that are able to objectively label someone sane or insane without emotion coming into it.

[Prudie]

Again I wouldn't defend her actions because of mental health problems but that should affect the sentence IMO. 12 years in prison is hardly going to rehabilitate her - isn't that meant to be the purpose of prison?

[dotty.]

in this case i think it is definately punishment, she's not exactly a drunk driver is she?

[Mick-Talbot]

Offer her a gallon of antifreeze....that will test how remorseful she is.

[dotty.]

'oh we are locking you up for 12 years because you drove whilst over the limit and carelessly killed some one'
is not the same as
'you wilfully slaughtered your own child in the most cruel way out of vengence and tried to cover it up, you deserve to be deprived of your freedom for a minimum of 12 years'

[FredPuli43]

In don't feel sympathy for her. This was a calculated killing, with an express motive (getting back at her boyfriend). That she wouldn't, or might not, have done it if she wasn't upset or distressed or she had been thinking differently is no defence or mitigation. It is not unusual for domestic murders to end with the suicide of the killer, but they are still murders and would have been punished as such, but for that. This woman survived and so gets 12 years.

She was plainly sane at the time; reports on her would have shown her sanity; and if 'diminished responsibility' was pleaded instead, it must have been rejected

[FredPuli43]

^^Correction. 'Diminished responsibility' may have been pleaded, and probably was. It reduces murder to manslaughter. If so, it didn't work very well as a plea when it came to sentencing and must have been seen by the judge as distinctly borderline.

[mike11111]

The Homicide Act of 1957, whilst drawing a distinction betwenn capital and non-capital murder, also broadened the scope of the doctrine of provocation, as well as introducing the concept of "diminished responsibility". Whilst the sections relating to capital punishment have been superseded by subsequent legislation, the sections regarding provocation and diminished responsibility are still in force, the former having been considerably broadened by subsequent case law.

[China Doll]

Absolutely none from me either I'm afraid. Although I can see where you're coming from. I just can't find it in me though, she was a willing participant in her own downward spiral, and given that there may have been a chance to save her daugher and a clean up process seemed to have been started, it does make me wonder exactly how diminished her responsibility was. I feel the court made the right decision. She is clearly suffering and will do for the rest of her days, but I think the punishment for actions is justified. Also, I expect she will get a lot of psych help in prison.

[joeluke]

You having a laugh aren't you Boo???

No one should have an ounce of sympathy for any parent who murders their own child (yes i know she was found guilty of manslaughter but IMO she murdered her own child in cold blood)

Pity she didn't do a good enough job of her own suicide

[joko]

i do pity her.
i pity what drove her to it, what kind of state her mind must have been in to come to the conclusion that this was a good idea.
its must have been a horrible 'place' to be in, and i wouldnt wish it on anyone ...

however, regardless of how ill she is, she still committed a terrible atrocity, motivated by jealously and anger and revenge at her ex - and for that she must be punished.

but she must also receive psychiatric care.


i am inclined to the think the 'lack of money' excuse was just her way of vainly trying to sound less bad for doing it - as though trying to convince people she had good reason and had her best interests at heart -
but 4 year olds dont have money - they are taken care of and this child had grandparents and a father to pay for her needs....
so the notion of her being destitute without her doesnt ring true to me.

it demonstrates that she knew she was doing something terrible and was desperately trying to think of ways to excuse it... the fact that she stabbed her then left her to suffer and die over the course of a few hours does not make me think of a woman whose priority is this child not suffering ...surely if that was her main concern and she truly believed she was saving the child from a hellish life, she'd have done it in a painless way - not attacked - and fought with - a 4 yr old with a knife!

but then, to think that that anything at all would excuse something like this brings us back to her state of mind.


there was a case of a man who jumped off a balcony with his two kids for spite ...
its not always a case of depression - sometimes its pure jealousy, hate and anger that erupts and people do blind crazy things in a rage ... then calm down...
i wonder if something similar happened here, given her threat - and when she calmed down she realised what shed done, she tried to kill herself?

[MissCommando]

If this woman has gone to prison, this proves she is/was of sound mind. I do not feel sorry for her at all and I'm glad her suicide bid didn't work so she has to live with what she has done.

[grffindoor2011]

I do not feel sorry for this 'woman' in the slightest.

Some idiot was on the radio earlier saying 'she has been through enough'. This is the attitude of the brainless briton who will likely be a headline themselves in the future having done the same thing to their child.

[ELVIS68]

The poor child is the only person I feel sorry for.

She should have got 12 years for leaking patients details and life for killing her daughter.

[WELSHYORKIE]

Agree Elvis

[emmie]

as do i.

[ummmm]

No sympathy whatsoever.

Her down fall was her own doing. Had she not been caught, and sacked, for leaking information do you think she would have suffered depression?

[albaqwerty]

Having read the article I agree with Elvis and Ummm.