Opinion: Throw the book at those who harm children

PEOPLE who do harm to children deserve tough justice.

Not everyone shares my view that it is first and foremost the parents or carers of maimed and murdered children who should pay the penalty.

DISGUST rose in a sickening wave when I saw the woman outside the suburban Magistrates Court laughing in between, as I recall, puffing on a durrie.

It was during an adjournment in her committal proceedings. Previously bailed, she was charged with the manslaughter of her baby and the grievous bodily harm, torture and cruelty of that baby daughter and of the dead child’s twin sister. I had been sent to cover the hearing and was trying to recover my emotions after learning of the babies’ injuries.

The cause of death was heart rupture from either a punch directly to her chest or blood accumulation around her heart due to a ruptured liver.

The pathologist who did the autopsy told the court the type of vertical cut found in the baby’s liver usually occurred only when the liver was pressed against the spine with force like that from a punch.

Where the law provides wriggle room for drug or alcohol abusers and addicts, domestic violence and/or socio-economic disadvantage, then it should be toughened.

I also reported his evidence that the baby’s brain was shrunken, probably as a result of repeated injury caused by shaking, that the child was significantly underweight for her age and examination of her liver suggested she was suffering from starvation.

“The child also had five other head injuries — bruises and abrasions — on her face and neck and fresh and semi-healed fractured ribs and fresh fractures of both forearm bones,” I wrote.

“At least 50 bruises were apparent on the baby’s body, many overlapping.”

As for the surviving twin, that baby’s head was larger than an adult’s, likely caused by fluid build-up caused by repetitive brain trauma from being shaken. The baby also had rib fractures.

Then aged 10 months, the surviving baby could only move from her back to her side, when normal children would be crawling and standing.

“This developmental delay could be due to the brain injury and the inability to move the massive head,” that baby’s pediatrician said, adding the size of the baby’s head, lack of mobility and developmental delay would have been “apparent to any carer’’ or person with any experience or contact with children.

Ever since that day well over a decade ago, those little twins swim into my consciousness each time I hear of a child who has died from neglect and/or injuries inflicted by those who should be protecting and nurturing them.

And, that day, watching the mother laughing it up, was the day, after a number of years covering child protection issues, my capacity to view with objectivity what might be regarded as mitigating circumstances in the lives of those who neglect, abuse and kill children, was seriously challenged.

Throw the book at them, is now my mantra.

And, where the law provides wriggle room for drug or alcohol abusers and addicts, domestic violence and/or socio-economic disadvantage, then it should be toughened.

Not everyone seems to share the view that it is first and foremost the parents or carers of maimed and murdered children who should wear public opprobrium and pay the penalty. There are some who’s first response is to look to the Government and seek to find fault with the Department of Child Safety.

Don’t get me wrong. Where a child thought to be at risk is notified to the department, then it becomes that agency’s business to do its job properly and thoroughly.

I reiterate the words of Alan Baker in these pages (CM 22/6) that it is not the Department of Endless Chances for Unfit Parents and I agree a review of its remit is in order.

That said, Minister Shannon Fentiman’s announcement last month of a new “permanency care order” is a step in the right direction.

But what gets lost when child abuse cases are politicised is the good work a great many child protection officers carry out under incredible pressure, labouring as they are under the weight of receiving around 100,000 child concern reports each year, translating to, in 2015-16, 6113 substantiations.

But not every child who dies at the hand of a parent is known to the department.

In fact, the statistics show that, in the past 12 years, 103 children died from fatal assault and neglect (including 35 from fatal child abuse and seven from fatal neglect) and while 48 were known to child protection authorities, 55 were not.

Which brings me back to the twins. While I cannot say unequivocally their parents weren’t known to the department, this certainly was not mentioned at the mother’s committal hearing. It also didn’t feature in subsequent reporting on the father’s sentencing.

As for the penalties meted out, well, you can make up your own mind.

The father got life (15 years) for murder. He was also found guilty of two counts each of grievous bodily harm, torture and cruelty to a child for which he was sentenced to another 37 years — but the sentences were to be served concurrently and I calculate he could be due for release this year.

The manslaughter charge against the mother was dropped as were the torture charges for the dead child and her surviving sister. After pleading not guilty to all charges, she was found guilty of two counts each of grievous bodily harm and cruelty, and was sentenced to a total of 15 years in jail.

But the sentences (four years and six months and three years respectively) were also ordered to be served concurrently.

She was required to spend just 22 months in prison.

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