to think this should have been murder? Warning: potential triggers. Distressing content. [title edited by MNHQ]

[wannaBe]

\link{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-28483061\warning, distressing content}
So it's culpable homicide because she didn't mean to kill him? ok then. I hope there is a special place in hell for people like her.

[TheWickerWoman]

I read about it on BBC news earlier, it really upset me.. I won't read the link but I know what it's about. I cannot believe she's not being done for murder.

Does your link mention the things she'd been googling before she killed him? You can only imagine what that poor child's life was like.

[TurboWithAKick]

well according to the other thread on this case,she will be out in 4 years,possibly having more children and continuing a relationship with the children she has remaining.....

not my own opinion

[wannaBe]

apparently it would be hard to make a murder charge stick because of having to prove she intended to kill him.

I don't get it - I really don't. I just hope that they can lock her up for the rest of her life and that she never gets to see her other children again.

[Memphisbelly]

So sad for that poor little boy. 3 days of suffering and in between she hit him more I also cannot believe when she broke down she said I am going to jail aren't I? So she was thinking sbout herself even then.

[wannaBe]

oh is there another thread? apologies - I did look but didn't see one.

no, not at the end of her tether. bollocks to that.

[Groovee]

When someone is charged by the police and brought to court they usually go to the highest charge. But unless the Procurator Fiscal could prove she had intended to murder him, they can't go ahead with murder and need to drop the charge to a lesser one. There was a forum when he was found where someone explained the legal jargon of what would happen and they said she would probably end up with a culpable homicide charge. But I can't remember where the thread I read was, but it helped sort out the legalities of it all.

[DiaDuit]

Poor baby. He needed hugging and kissing and comfort whilst he was sick. That's what parents do. Not this. Poor babe.

[Nicknacky]

Many criminal deaths in Scotland do result in a culpable homicide conviction, this is far from unusual.

This poster who mentioned a 6 year sentence used a case she was aware of as a benchmark where the accused was suffering pnd.

I would expect this mother to get longer 10-15 years

[phantomnamechanger]

that poor poor child. Being sick and the person who should have been looking after him instead got angry and hit him

and he is not the only one, of that I am sure, who is treated like that, differently from his siblings for no comprehensible reason.
so if you have concerns for a child, for your neighbours kids, for a school friend of your DC, please report your concerns to the authorities. I can't believe that someone somewhere did not know that this little chap was being treated so abysmally at home.

[tiredgranny]

but he was under social services and put in foster care twice?

[Dazedconfused]

Unfortunately proving intent would be very difficult (ie intent to kill not intent to harm) culpable homicide I believe is similar to manslaughter(sorry don't really know much about English law) and you do not have to prove intent just culpability. she is an evil witch though and will get hell in prison.

[Showy]

As already explained, it would be very hard to prove in this case that the mother intended the outcome of her actions to be the child's death. There really is no choice but to go for the lesser crime which you can prove beyond reasonable doubt.

DH is a copper and it's fairly common. If you need to secure a conviction sometimes you have to go with what is most likely to result in that conclusion.

[expatinscotland]

Wonder how she will fare in Cornton Vale. Theresa Riggi didn't last long in there.

[TurboWithAKick]

What happened to Theresa Riggi?

[Nicknacky]

She was badly attacked in Cornton Vale (at least I think it was there that she was attacked) then killed herself just after she was moved to a facility in England.

[Meloria]

I don't think it's very fair to call someone 'evil' when we know very little about the matter. The woman may have been mentally ill for all we know. Every time I see something like this I think 'There but for the Grace of God go I' [sic]. Who knows how you could be affected by having a baby or other things going on in your life?

I'm not saying she's completely innocent but we ought to remember that there normally reasons and justifications for crimes, however twisted and misguided, and crimes like this are rarely committed purely out of badness or 'evil'ness.

[TurboWithAKick]

I think the first thing they do I a MH assessment!

[Nicknacky]

She's not mentally ill, the will have been extensively assessed during her time on remand.

And I disagree, there is murders committed by "evil" people and while some killings can be justified there is no way this could be one of those.

[Meloria]

What, and then announce the results to the public? They do assessments but the results, like any medical results are confidential.

[TurboWithAKick]

'Crimes like this'.... Can you elaborate in that meloria?

[GretchenWiener]

OP
thats the thing though. you have to show intention for murder

[Meloria]

People abuse their children for all sorts of reasons. Yes, sometimes just out of badness, but other times because they're being manipulated by others, because they're ill and not coping with aspects of their life, because they suddenly snap.