Another 'accidental' child death

Here's another one from England:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1047652/Heartbroken-mother-Downs-syndrome-daughter-2--hanging-window-blind-cord.html

"Heartbroken mother found her Down's syndrome daughter, 2, hanging from window blind cord"

I ask you, how does any baby, retarded or not, figure out how to hang his/herself? The mother obviously offed her retard and the court went along with it.

My mother once told me that back in the day, when a woman gave birth to an obviously defective child, they "got very busy with the mother", a.k.a. letting it go to a swift, mercifal death.

I don't know what to say to this. please advise.

I think it is an accident that can easily happen. I also think it could be one easily arranged.
I know my mom told me, many years ago, of a birth she attended where the baby was born without a brain, just a fluidy sack. She was going to put it in an incubator, as trained, although it was a foregone conclusion the baby would die. She was told by the attending physician to place it in the window and open it a crack (it was February in maryland.)
I don't think this happens as often anymore: too many 'eyes'.

two cents ¢¢ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it is an accident that can easily happen.
> I also think it could be one easily arranged.
> I know my mom told me, many years ago, of a birth
> she attended where the baby was born without a
> brain, just a fluidy sack. She was going to put it
> in an incubator, as trained, although it was a
> foregone conclusion the baby would die. She was
> told by the attending physician to place it in the
> window and open it a crack (it was February in
> maryland.)
> I don't think this happens as often anymore: too
> many 'eyes'.

here is wisdom

Oh, and I'm *SURE* this mother is suffering horribly. (rollseyes)

^^ Wisdom long gone I'm afraid. Gets no sympathy from me.

Wouldn't put it past the moo to have offed the toadler. Sorry, but that long after birth, it is murder. The sad thing is that if any of us did it, we would go to jail. I'm sure Moo went free.

Unfortunately with all the medical advances today, we keep loaves alive that would honestly be better off dead. I can't see that it is merciful to keep a child alive with multiple medical problems, and problems that will leave him or her with very little quality of life.

Window blind cords don't wrap themselves around people. Or people's necks. If one was to deliberately wrap the cord around one's own neck several times (probably not past the actions of a retarded kid), if said retarded kid comes off her feet somehow, window blind cord drags kid toward the window and DOWN. Not UP. Her ass would've been flat on the floor against the wall underneath the window. It's not possible for a 3-foot-tall kid to hang herself with a 6-foot long piece of string... without help.

Still, the judge went along with it and said it was "totally unforseeable circumstances".

- - - - - - - -
"The death of creativity is a pram in the hallway"
- Cyril Connolly

As a longtime reader of true crime (but no expert) I have to say this sounds very fishy to me.

Things that jump out:
1. How did Billy wind up in mom's bed? Did he go on his own volition or was he encouraged to leave the room where his sis slept?
2. I find it odd that the mom is already briskly talking about her in the past tense:

Mrs Prieur said: 'She didn't understand danger like other children of her age.

'Down's syndrome children are very strong in their upper body and on one occasion Lucy pulled herself up into a water tray and put her head into it and she would have just left her head in there.'

She added: 'She was a delightful and lovely child, much-loved by her mother.'

I would think a bereft, heartbroken mom would tend to (illogically or not) talk about their child in the present tense, just out of their loving wish that they still be alive, or the magnitude of the kid's importance kind of making them still alive in the mom's imagination. Could be off base here, (the child is dead after all) but just a feeling.

Strangling by ligature is not an uncommon way to kill someone (JonBenet, I think, so died). But the marks always give the method of death away. Someone with dark intentions could use a cord the same size as the blind cords (did police check to see if any other blind cords in the house were missing?) and then tangle her up in the bedroom blind cord to explain the ligature marks.

I mean no offense; perhaps the kid died on her own. Just seems a bit hinky.

I hate how people seem to think that ALL Downs syndrome kids are like that retarded actor, ("Corky" on Life Goes On) that Hollywood uses on every show which requires a mentally retarded actor. He is an exception in that he has an IQ at the highest end of the Downs spectrum. MOST of the Downs people are incapable of living independently and have a host of other health problems, usually related to holes in their hearts. Instead of being allowed to die peacefully, or aborted in the first place, they put them in neo natal ICU, pump them full of "life saving" drugs, patch up their hearts in a million dollar operation, or give them a new heart which COULD have gone to a baby with a brain.

When society gets a "poster child" for Spina Bifida, Cerebral Palsy, Downs, or any number of other defects which should have caused them to die at or before birth, they always pick the least severe case and the best physically looking kid and campaign about how meaningful their lives are and what all "normal" things they can do. They NEVER put the average retard on their ads. If they did, people would be less likely to want to sympathize and donate to the causes. No one wants to see a wheelchair bound retard with a piss bag, diaper, and a spittle cup, as they would MUCH rather pretend that all retards are like "Corky", when they simply are not.

As for the kid choking on the window blind cord, I don't buy it. I don't think that a two year old mentally and physically retarded kid would have the where withall OR the dexterity to hang herself like that. Even if she did, it would take several minutes, or longer, for her to actually die. Where was moomie?

kidlesskim: absolutely. And anyone realizing they're choking or having a hard time breathing is gonna gasp, or scream, make choking sounds, cough, and likely thrash all around and bang into things. Sounds you'd likely hear from anywhere in the house.