The news of the mother who subjectd her children to fight

[vixma]

Reuters - Friday, April 20LONDON (Reuters) - A mother who forced her two-year-old son and three year-old daughter to fight each other as she and three other women filmed them was spared jail on Friday.

City:
Room Type: Single Twin Double Family rooms The women laughed and swore as they encouraged the tearful children to punch and kick each other during the home video.

The boy, crying and wearing just a nappy and T-shirt, was goaded into punching his sister after she hit him and was called a "wimp" and "faggot".

"It was extremely upsetting footage," prosecutor David Gittins told BBC News 24 outside Plymouth Crown Court. "It showed that the conduct of these defendants, all four of them, was totally and utterly unacceptable.

"The children were so distressed and time and time again were ... pushed back into the ring to keep fighting each other when they clearly didn't want to."

Police said the footage had "sickened and saddened" everyone working on the case. The children's father discovered the tape by chance.

In a statement, their family said: "The gravity of these events has placed an enormous strain on our family, who had no idea that these women were capable of acts of such wanton cruelty."

Police said the children are well and staying with relatives.

The four women, all members of the same Plymouth family, were given one-year suspended sentences for child cruelty offences. They left court without comment

Anyone else sickend by this?

Good god she is not defending them! She is defending the justice system that you are apparently criticising.

No-one can defend those women. I think we are all pretty unanimous on that thought.

Yes lucky the father came across the video.

How much worse goes on behind closed doors

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Exactly Ceolas take the foster mum in court earlier this week!

I think it was child cruelty

It was apparently filmed.....disgusting, I hate newspapers and rarely read them...is there another perspective on this story....it doesnt sound that way, however what is up with the sentence?

I heard it said that judges will 'over-sentence' (but within the parameters for the offence in question) so by the time they get time 'off' for good behaviour inside/mitigating circumstances they've effectively served as much time as they legally can than if they were given a sentence for the length of time that they did actually serve (since this would be reduced further down etc).

Before anyone jumps down my neck I read law at university not so long ago so I'm not quite talking out of the back of my neck .

It is good to hear other perspectives, however foul the topic we talk about. Hopefully you will be heard and not offended. However, awful the subject.

The boy, crying and wearing just a nappy and T-shirt, was goaded into punching his sister after she hit him and was called a "wimp" and "faggot".

How this cannot break your heart though, and that was on yahoo, and ITV news and BBc had run the same story.

Lets be thankful the children are no longer in the care of their mother, and she is able to abuse them no longer.

I agree, scum

I cant believe your preaching stance on this one icod, so you know something about the justice system, so what, you certainly dont mind making judgments on people without having all the facts. I think you just want to sound superior to those around you. I agree with the thread that said the dogs fighters shouldnt have had such greater sentances than these women. And yes I would like to see them with a custodial sentance if only for their children to look back and say that society was looking out for them and acknoledging the treatment against them. We can surely assume this wasnt the only mistreatment the kids suffered , but of course that couldnt be taken into consideration whereas the mitigating circumstances of the mothers could. Do not criticise us for voicing our opinions on a system that affects us all

2 months later

icod..it is interesting to know why the courts do what they do and legal stuff they have to follow consider etc..

i did jury duty and opened my eyes love all that stuff...the workings...

these people are savages...if they lost their kids then lost everything ..at least they the kids are safe i hope now

but ...justice must be done and be seen to be done ....

why not let them suffer in their own living rooms, shops, supermarkets, community ..everyone knowing their shame and brutality...
i dont wanna pay any more for them in jail...
hang their head in shame in public if no real risk they can re commit...?...

I think you misunderstand Cod - She is not taking a "preaching stance" - I think she feels strongly about how people judge 'judges' when they know nothing of the circumstances of the case - She is stating you can not pass comment on what you know nothing of. People are always to ready to blame the judges and the legal system and the police, but at the end of the day they are following legal procedures and judging each case on it's individual circumstances - circumstances that Joe Public knows absolutely nothing off. They in my opinion have an incredibly hard job - and must get utterly fed up of people making comments about the sentences they hand out.

She is not defending the offenders - she is defending the legal system.

And what I am saying is as Joe Public we are entitled to make our opinions heard, Judges are not infallible and we should not accept their decisions without question, and the reason I think cod is preacing is cos she is being patroninsing saying you dont know what you are talking about,

I don't think cod meant to be preachy or patronising, though it did come accross that way. I think she's making the very valid point that any of us outside a courtroom can't really get outraged about a sentence, unless we have accessed the full facts. Which is a good thing to bear in mind.

Horrible thing, wasn't it? Hope the kids were fostered together

Yes - Joe public is entitled to be heard - which is what forums like this allow us to do. No argument there. But people will respond defensively when they are feeling that they or their profession or their colleagues are being critisised by people who are not in full possession of the facts - which joe public is not. And they are entitled to do so.

No one said judges are infalable and that their decisions should not be question - and no one would disagree with that statement - after all they are human.

How you perceive Cods attitude is something only you can comment on - and I have no wish to change your view, but have stated mine.

I was merely looking at the situation from a judges point of view and empathising with that point.

I can also see why anyone would be horrified on hearing about such abuse and would react with the comments that people have done so.

perhaps we should all learn not to take what other people say so literally sometimes.

This is a highly emotive subject and is bound to get people 'discussing' it.

I will leave this thread now as I have stated my opinion and that's all I intended to do.

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It sounds like you have some experience of or interest in legal/courtroom matters Cod, and so I take your point that we have no way of knowing the full facts if we only listen/watch news or read newspapers or discussions here. My initial reaction was "lock em up" but I liked the comment earlier about public shaming being more effective in the long run. For that, we must thank those media types again, even though they might hide some of the facts in their reporting. Cod, I must disagree with your point that we NEVER know all the facts of a case. I guess saying that is just as onesided as saying that what you read in the papers is true. Surely some reports we read are credible - even if we don't know which ones, it is more realistic to assume that. As far as mitigating circumstances, no matter how frustrated a parent can get with their children, when you get to a stage where a mother lets herself do something that hateful, and encourages others to do it, and also allows someone else to record it (for entertainment I suppose), then they deserve to never have anything to do with their own or other peoples' children again. I hope the poor kids can learn to trust people again and that they don't end up become abusive when they are older. As for the women, I don't understand how people like that can fit in with normal people again, but I hope they will one day.

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