Madam, - On January 16th and 17th two stories dominated the news. Both involved the killing of children but, as far as I am aware, none of the media coverage made any links or comparisons between the two stories or the manner in which the two killings were treated by the justice system, the public or the media.
In one case a 16-year old girl was killed by a 46-year-old adult, her mother. The evidence shows that, at the time, the mother intended to kill the child and did so by holding her head under water in a bath until she drowned. The person who carried out this killing was a mature, well-educated professional. The perpetrator was found not guilty of either murder or manslaughter. In this case the Director of Public Prosecutions effectively collaborated with the defence in ensuring that the perpetrator was found "not guilty by reason of insanity". The media en masse joined in an outpouring of compassion that effectively said that this perpetrator was a victim and could not be held in any way responsible for her actions.
The other case involved the killing of an 11-year-old boy by a 19-year-old teenager. The evidence showed that the killing happened in the course of some horse-play, possibly aggressive, but there was no intention on the part of the 19-year-old to kill the child. The perpetrator was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison. In response to public and media pressure the DPP appealed against the sentence on the grounds that it was too lenient. On his release from prison, having served his sentence, the perpetrator was immediately hounded aggressively by certain sections of the media, and possibly by others, to the point where neither he nor his family can return to live in their home.
Do the thought-control police prohibit us from commenting on the sexism involved in treating a mature adult woman, who deliberately killed her child, with such an outpouring of compassion, while a young man, barely more than a boy himself, who accidentally killed a child is still hounded so aggressively even after he has served the sentence imposed by the courts?
Two other questions arise. If a 46-year-old father, with a
similar background and in similar circumstances, had deliberately
killed his daughter in the same way as Lynn Gibb, would he have
been treated so compassionately by the media, the public and the
justice system? If Wayne O'Donoghue had been a teenage girl who
accidentally killed a child, would (s)he have been treated so
harshly by the public, the justice system and the media even after
having served a court imposed sentence - or would (s)he have been
found "not guilty by reason of being female"? - Yours, etc,
F. McGLYNN,
Pineview Grove,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.