Re: three children
 

Good post, Margaret.

I think you could be right.

People don't go round doing this to their children willy nilly, do they?

I don't think she can be of sound mind.

Re: three children
 

In one of the papers(if you believe what is written in the papers these days) she was desperate to go back to Sri Lanka, they had a business and a ring road had diverted a lot of their passing trade, and they were struggling to keep solvent...so her life was hard without the added burden of a baby.(and I mean that in the best possible sense)

Re: three children
 

I know what you mean, Margaret.

Seems like she's been at the end of her rope. :(

Re: three children
 

Nothing too surprising really. Children are far more at risk of harm from members of their own family than they are from complete strangers. Philip Larkin had it spot on.

Re: three children
 

Yes, you are right...but the fact that this lady has a six month old baby could possibly have a bearing on her sanity.

Re: three children
 

More than likely Margaret, but then we always blame mental instability whenever family members (particularly parents) do things like this. It's easier for us as a society to blame individuals' state of mind, rather than question the so-called 'cornerstone of society'.

Re: three children
 

It is hard for me to accept that a mother. especially one of an ethnnic background would inflict such terrible injuries on her children if she wasn't mentally unbalanced.
It is a very sad state of affairs. We shouldn't judge her without knowing more about what has gone on.

Re: three children
 

I totally agree, Margaret.

I find it hard to accept that a sane person would do this.

Re: three children
 

There is absolutely no doubt that this story will result in a case of diminished responsibility, as it's always these kinds of stories that make the front pages. It's all part of 'the game'.

Re: three children
 

And what game would that be then?
Parents do not murder their children for a game...and we must remember that we are in no position to judge on the limited information that is currently in the public domain.....what happened to 'Innocent, until proved guilty?'

Re: three children
 

Was just thinking that myself.

What game?

We play snakes and ladders, matching pairs and connect 4 with our children.

We don't try to hack them to pieces. :(

We're not at the end of our rope though.

Re: three children
 

Hmmmm.... wrong end of the stick me thinks.

Never mind. :)

Re: three children
 

Hate to pipe up, but I absolutely hate it when people refer to claims of insanity and diminished responsibility as a game.

She's attacked and killed her own children. IF she claims diminished responsibility, she's still going to have a tarnished reputation and be lucky if she gets to keep the child that survived or live a normal life with it ever again.

Insanity isn't a game either, the sentencing is unpredictable and most people who are genuinely insane still prefer the full crime of murder just for the certainty of when they will be released from prison.

It really does irritate me how people can think these defenses are there to make life easier for criminals, when in reality they're probably more damaging than serving full time for the crime.

Re: three children
 

Er...as of this moment she's still being questioned, and has been charged with nothing, nevermind been found guilty of any crime.

First lesson of law, innocent until proven guilty.

Re: three children
 

I was actually referring to the way that the media selectively operates as 'a game', but it doesn't matter now. :)