Post natal depression, infanticide and punishment

This issue has bugged me for many years. A recent judgement in my city:



http://ift.tt/1hITX8I

Quote:

The mother, 39, told police she felt like she was on a rollercoaster and would go into a daze when she repeatedly attacked the baby girls after they were brought home following their birth by caesarean at the Royal Women's Hospital on February 27, 2012. Crown prosecutor Ray Elston, SC, said the mother admitted to police that maybe she "shook them too hard" but could not remember exactly when or how often. She told police she was a bad mother and "you've got to help me, you've got to help me". The mother, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to one count of infanticide and one count of recklessly causing serious injury. The baby girl who survived suffered permanent brain damage, has cerebral palsy and cannot walk or talk. Sentencing the mother to a one-year community service order on Friday, Supreme Court Justice Bernard Bongiorno said cases of infanticide were fortunately rare. The moral culpability of the mother, who sat shaking in the dock and rocking backwards and forwards while the father wiped away tears just two rows in front of her, was either non-existent or to such a low degree as to be negligible, the judge said. Defence barrister Peter Morrissey, SC, had told the court the mother was "very much a broken woman", struggling to find a reason to live. "She is a person very much to be pitied," he said.

So when does a life become devoid of worth? Three months? A year? What about the severely disabled twin who survived the attack? (and please don't bring abortion into this).



I don't pity the mother at all. This is a ridiculously lenient sentence. What would the verdict be if it was the father?

via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1rOQuhb