Boy who shot sister jailed for 2 years - mother jailed for 3

[WendyWeber]

Because it was her fault the gun was there

I suppose it's making an example of her to others who might be in a similar position but where does it leave her younger children?

They really dont look very with it. Perhaps they did not fully appreciate the possible consequences of their actions? The real punishment is having to live with what happened forever. How sad all round.

Do you really think that a 16 year old wouldn't know what would happen if you shot someone in the head???

This isn't a child this is a 16 year old.

Someone old enough to legally father a child.

at so point people have to be held responsible for what they do.

If they were mentally incapable of knowing what they had done you could be sure that their lawyer would have raised the issue

"Mr Justice Holland said: "Inevitably, given his age, Kasha retrieved the gun. Inevitably, he started playing with it, it makes him feel a man. Playfully, he threatens his sister with it, having no idea of gun safety.

"The gun fires and she receives a bullet in the head and is fatally wounded.

"You, Kasha, were and remain horrified and truly contrite.

Natasha Peniston (Pic courtesy of GMP)
Natasha Peniston buried the revolver in the garden of their home

"A handgun in circulation gives the holder a spurious self-confidence and a perverted self-respect; the status of the armed man."

tragic, a family without a sister and a daughter, a brother who will ever more be tainted, as will his mother

it will be interesting to see if he comes out of jail a changed man, or descends further into crime, being a marked man already, as it were

terribly sad

peachy, anyone who has ever seen a film knows about pulling back the cylinder!

for once, i am feel the courts got a ruling right.
guns are dangerous things, yet there existence is something none of us really worries too much about. during the middle ages, the catholic church barred something very similar to a gun as being far too barbaric. yet nowadays film and tv portrays guns are being perfectly normal.

at holding a loaded gun to a siblings head, even in 'jest'

I've seen films! I know nothing about guns!

I do think the verdict was right though.

Not saying they shouldnt be held responsible and punished or that they were mentally incapable of understanding. Just that they really dont look too bright.

I guess justice has to be seen to be done; imagine the outcry if neither had been sent to jail even though they'd killed a person.

The situation is a bit odd, though. How can anyone consider a gun to be 'innocuous' and have 'no idea of gun safety'?? Guns only do one thing; fire bullets. And if the boy knew nothing about guns how did he know to move the cylinder in the first place?

Anyone who's ever seen a film knows about pulling back the cylinder? That nugget of information seems seems have passed me by.....

Of course he should be sent to prison, he held a loaded gun to someones heda and pulled teh trigger ffs. I'm withn MB on this one.

3 years is not enough for the mother imo. What was she thinking? Her kids are bettr off without her imo.

I think the punishment for the mother is fair. I am not sure about the 16 year old. It has to be remembered that very few criminals have to serve the whole of their sentence.

fgs he is not a six year old and is above the age of criminal responsiblity.

Christ he put a gun to his sister's head and pulled the trigger. That's not a tragic accident. He should get longer than he has done. Lots of criminals pretend to show remorse, it doesn't mean they feel it. If he cared about her that much why did he put a loaded gun to her head then pull the trigger in the first place?

I'd be interested to know what the pressure was that the criminal who gave her the gun put her under. I wonder what sentence he's going to face.

It has to be remembered that the two TEN year olds who murdered poor little James Bulger got more than 2 years. From what I remember the home secretary at the time chose to over rule the judge and increase the sentence to fifteen years! (I think the boys served less than 15 years in the end)

I realise that the murder of James Bulger was particularly hideous. Those boys deserved a long jail sentence without a doult.

Maybe this murder was not as awful as the killing of James Bulger. But surely the sixteen year old had as much idea of what he was doing as James' murderers?

I wonder if she was covering for her son when she said it was her who took the gun into her house. Who is more likely to be given a gun - a 33 year old mother or a 16 year old boy who apparently knows how to shoot it?