Mum jailed for killing her terminally ill 28 yo daughter

[crafters_corner]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/1...rs-in-jail

Does it outrage you, that this mother didn't get a longer sentence?
Does it make you sad, that she had to watch her daughter suffer?

"Walk a mile in my shoes".

"Judge not, lest ye be judged"

Lock her up and throw away the key?

I just find this sort of crime, so extremely sad. What pushes a mother to the brink of despair, that this is the only way out.

How can mothers be capable of killing their child/ren?

I think of the poor South Afrikan mum, who killed her 3 children. Mentally unstable? Had a breakdown? Having a bad day? Stress of settling into a new country and new culture??

You thoughts?

[Oh_hunnihunni]

She had very little support, and signaled her distress, if the articles I have read are accurate. People in her situation should be forgiven for losing their minds, I hope she gets the support in prison that she needs.

As for the Mum who killed her children, that is clearly a case of a broken mind. The awful thing for me is where she will be when her mind is put back together.

Human beings, like fine china, break under extreme stress. Jailing them achieves nothing good.

[sarahk]

Two completely different situations.

1: Caregiver decides murder-suicide is the only option left. This happens way more often than it should and points to a failure in our systems to support those families. That she didn't follow through on the suicide is a detail. As a wealthier country we should be able to provide more support.

2: A South African friend had an interesting perspective. As a wealthy professional couple, they would have had a nanny, a housekeeper, and other full-time staff in the family home. All of these things will have supported the wife and left her with limited experience of actually parenting. Fast forward to landing in NZ, 2 weeks alone in MIQ and suddenly in Timaru with 3 kids, no friends, no support. We can't imagine how that must have felt and harming the kids would never be ok, but it wouldn't have taken much to snap.

[Lilith7]

If I was on that jury there's no possibility that I could have found her guilty; this was an awful situation for all involved & I think the stress on the mother must have reached the point of being unendurable.
I really don't believe this warrants such a long sentence, especially when it may be that prison means she may lose her home, whether rental or mortgage. Bad enough that this woman will now have to live with this for the rest of her life.

The S.A. woman is a different situation, perhaps the sudden burden of coping alone was too much, perhaps she was already mentally ill - we'll probably never know, poor woman.

[Me+Me]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/1...rs-in-jail

Does it outrage you, that this mother didn't get a longer sentence?
Does it make you sad, that she had to watch her daughter suffer?

"Walk a mile in my shoes".

"Judge not, lest ye be judged"

Lock her up and throw away the key?

I just find this sort of crime, so extremely sad. What pushes a mother to the brink of despair, that this is the only way out.

How can mothers be capable of killing their child/ren?

I think of the poor South Afrikan mum, who killed her 3 children. Mentally unstable? Had a breakdown? Having a bad day? Stress of settling into a new country and new culture??

You thoughts?

Jail isn't really normally considered to be 'punishment' in this country now-a-days.  The PC brigade put a stop to that factor.  And in some cases it's good.  In this case I cannot see what any kind of Jail sentence provides at all.  The poor lady has been for many years and no doubt now will continue to be in a different way, in her own kind of Hell.  Jail ? ZERO to do with Justice here it's only Law - and poorly applied at that.  Compassion might have been better.  Greater assistance while the young one was alive would have possibly had a better outcome also !

[Lilith7]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/1...rs-in-jail

Does it outrage you, that this mother didn't get a longer sentence?
Does it make you sad, that she had to watch her daughter suffer?

"Walk a mile in my shoes".

"Judge not, lest ye be judged"

Lock her up and throw away the key?

I just find this sort of crime, so extremely sad. What pushes a mother to the brink of despair, that this is the only way out.

How can mothers be capable of killing their child/ren?

I think of the poor South Afrikan mum, who killed her 3 children. Mentally unstable? Had a breakdown? Having a bad day? Stress of settling into a new country and new culture??

You thoughts?

Jail isn't really normally considered to be 'punishment' in this country now-a-days.  The PC brigade put a stop to that factor.  And in some cases it's good.  In this case I cannot see what any kind of Jail sentence provides at all.  The poor lady has been for many years and no doubt now will continue to be in a different way, in her own kind of Hell.  Jail ? ZERO to do with Justice here it's only Law - and poorly applied at that.  Compassion might have been better.  Greater assistance while the young one was alive would have possibly had a better outcome also !


 I strongly disagree with that - prison is often harsher for women & is indeed punishment. But I do agree with the rest of your post, especially with regard to more or better assistance while her daughter was still alive.