Completely Fucked Up Shit

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Girl breaks femur, gets punished for three weeks, dies from massive infection

Girl left to die in agony, court told

By Tara Ravens

July 28, 2008 06:07pm

A 12-YEAR-old girl was left without food or water to die in the backyard of her foster home, delirious with pain and unable to move, a court has heard.

Crown Prosecutor Richard Coates said doctors at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) uncovered a "massive 1.5 litres of pus" in the child's leg, caused by a fracture to her left thigh.

Sisters Toni Melville, 43, and Denise Reynolds, 42, have been charged with the manslaughter of the girl, who first started to limp following a school sports day.

Three weeks later, on July 12 last year, she died from a blood and bone infection.

Mr Coates said osteomyelitis was a condition common in children that doctors would have had "no difficulty diagnosing".

"With medical treatment she could have made a full recovery," he said on the first day of a Northern Territory Supreme Court trial in Darwin.

"Even if medical treatment had been sought on the last day ... when her heart stopped beating, she would have still had a fighting chance of survival."

Mr Coates said Ms Reynolds was a "stubborn" woman who insisted the child had sustained a sports injury which would improve with exercise.

When the girl refused, Ms Reynolds would "smack her leg with a stick".

"(The child) was unable to stand unassisted and when she was forced to she would just fall to the ground," Mr Coates said during opening submissions.

"When assistance was not forthcoming to help her to the toilet she would urinate and defecate in her clothes where she lay."

Mr Coates said social workers who visited the three-bedroom Palmerston home - which housed 17 people - the day before the death found the child lying on the kitchen floor crying.

When she was told to have a shower she struggled to walk and had to use the walls for support.

Mr Coates said the jury would also hear evidence that, hours before her death, the girl was "punished" for soiling her clothes and taken out to the backyard.

"The children were told they were not allowed to help her get food or drink," he said.

"You will hear evidence from children who were out playing in the yard that later in the day (the girl) began to talk about fairies and witches and she said a limousine was coming to pick her up ... (The girl) said yeh, I can see the light now, and she just stopped breathing."

Ms Melville told police she called Triple 0 but Mr Coates said records showed the first call she made was to her sister.

The child was pronounced dead at RDH later that evening.

Mr Coates said the jury might find both women were "genuinely distressed" by the death, but the standard of care they offered her had "grievously fallen short" of what would be expected of a reasonable person.

The trial before Justice Trevor Riley continues.

Kid gets tortured to death and the best they can offer is Manslaughter!? What's wrong with second-degree murder?

[White Haven]

Scum. Simply scum. Not only do the foster parents deserve to be crushed to the fullest extent that the law can provide (And I'm with Ein, manslaughter? WEAK), there are a few other glaring things. One, social workers were there, saw that the girl was being completely neglected and was clearly crippled by something, and...apparently did nothing. At the very least, they need to be out on the curb, and from the sound of things, criminal charges had best follow. The other question, and this's more dependent on information the article doesn't give, is the age of the other children in the household. If we're talking little kids, then it's disturbing that they'd have this situation inflicted on them, but nothing more. If we're talking older children, then I'm more than mildly revolted that this could go on for weeks without at least one of them doing an end-run around the foster parents to the authorities.

[Patrick Degan]

Sure sounds like Murder-2 to me; depraved indifference to human life.

[Lusankya]

Why is it manslaughter and not 2nd degree murder?

I can think of two reasons.

1: It's Darwin.

2: Several clues (such as a) it's Darwin and b) she was living with huge-ass extended family) suggest that she's aboriginal.

Therefore the authorities either expect it to happen, have to worry about 'cultural sensitvity' or some such crap or they don't give a shit because ... well, Australian authorities are racist towards aborigines, and the greater the concentration of aborigines, the more racist they get. There are a lot of aborigines in Darwin.

[tim31]

Beat me to the punch Alison. Leaves me wondering what the federal Department of Indigenous Affairs acutally does all day.

[Lusankya]

I think they sit around wishing that the whole 'Stolen Generation' thing had been done more efficiently. That way they'd be getting more compensation claims, but fewer 'OMG a TINY house with one toilet and a million people and oh look, we don't wash our faces, so our kids are going blind' cases.

(Seriously, folks, there was a case a few years back where they were giving incentives to aboriginal communities so they would make their kids wash their faces two times a day, thus preventing one of the most easily preventable causes of blindness.)

Not that I'm endorsing the stolen generation, mind. It's just that the whole issue is complicated and completely destroying their culture (as opposed to only mostly destroying it) would have made things so much simpler.

[Glocksman]

Why is it manslaughter and not 2nd degree murder?

I can think of two reasons.

1: It's Darwin.

2: Several clues (such as a) it's Darwin and b) she was living with huge-ass extended family) suggest that she's aboriginal.

Therefore the authorities either expect it to happen, have to worry about 'cultural sensitvity' or some such crap or they don't give a shit because ... well, Australian authorities are racist towards aborigines, and the greater the concentration of aborigines, the more racist they get. There are a lot of aborigines in Darwin.

IANAL, and it's not in the US, so take this with a large dose of salt.

Over here, murder charges usually require that the prosecution prove that the killer had the intent to kill.
An example would be a drunk driver who ran over a pedestrian.
Even though the pedestrian died, the driver didn't intend to kill anyone.

Similarly, an armed robber who shoots and kills his victim intended to kill and can be prosecuted for murder.

[Glocksman]

To clarify:

Intentional homicide is punished more harshly than unintentional homicide.
Degan's post reminded me that some states might extend the term 'murder' to include unintentional homicides.

[tim31]

'Sorry' was big news back in February, but I haven't really heard anything about it since in the news media I review. Emissions trading, fuel prices, and the drought are the only ongoing stories as far as Australian media are concerned.

[Alyrium Denryle]

To clarify:

Intentional homicide is punished more harshly than unintentional homicide.
Degan's post reminded me that some states might extend the term 'murder' to include unintentional homicides.

There is another extension to the murder statute and that is Depraved Indifference, where a person forces an individual or allows them to stay, in a circumstance that a reasonable person would consider likely to cause their death.

This poor girl was crippled for weeks, couldnt stand, and with a couple liters of puss in her leg would have had a very obvious infection. SHe was denied food and drink (which would exacerbate the infection by not allowing her body the energy needed to fight it off)

They set her up to die and didnt care that she was suffering. She died as a result

Murder 2

[loomer]

This does not appear to be a case of an aboriginal kinship care family to me, Lusankya.

It appears to be a case of a foster carer who abuses the system in order to earn money rather than actually because they give two shits. My family has fostered plenty of people, and they piss me off. They give us all a bad name, which makes the kids we get in very slow to trust us.

[Eulogy]

If there is justice, then somebody will draw and quarter these monsters and leave THEM to die, just so they know of the suffering that they caused to an innocent girl. The fact that it was completely preventable only gives maggot icing on this shit cake.

Destroy them. Show no mercy; they have proven themselves not to be worthy of life or happiness.

[Stark]

If there is justice, then somebody will draw and quarter these monsters and leave THEM to die, just so they know of the suffering that they caused to an innocent girl. The fact that it was completely preventable only gives maggot icing on this shit cake.

Destroy them. Show no mercy; they have proven themselves not to be worthy of life or happiness.

Grow up.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

If there is justice, then somebody will draw and quarter these monsters and leave THEM to die, just so they know of the suffering that they caused to an innocent girl. The fact that it was completely preventable only gives maggot icing on this shit cake.

Destroy them. Show no mercy; they have proven themselves not to be worthy of life or happiness.

SDN's Queen of Spam, aka me, says to take your 'RAR INTARDWEBS TUFF GYE!11' schtick and shove it up your ass sideways. I don't think it needs to be said that the drama (and Lulz if you're Darkstar or other dead trolls) will be truly Epic should someone actually follow your suggestion.

Evil begets evil; remember this, asshole.

[Lusankya]

This does not appear to be a case of an aboriginal kinship care family to me, Lusankya.

It appears to be a case of a foster carer who abuses the system in order to earn money rather than actually because they give two shits. My family has fostered plenty of people, and they piss me off. They give us all a bad name, which makes the kids we get in very slow to trust us.

Girl's aunt charged with manslaughter


July 29, 2008 - 6:38PM
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An autopsy on the body of a 12-year-old foster girl found a treatable infection had damaged her kidneys, starved her of glucose and filled her leg with puss, a court has heard.

Dr Mark Sousa, an emergency specialist at Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH), said 48 hours before her heart stopped, Deborah Melville would have been in "severe pain".

"There would have been established septicaemia, established high potassium, renal failure," he said.

"We would have had a whole team working on her

two days before."

Sisters Denise Reynolds, 42, and Toni Melville, 43, have been charged with the manslaughter of their niece after they failed to seek medical treatment for a leg injury she had sustained three weeks earlier.

In the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin on Tuesday, Dr Sousa said an autopsy had found 1.5 litres of puss surrounding Deborah's fractured thigh bone, including the left buttock and muscles.

There were also abscesses in her lungs and one on her tongue, while her kidneys were "massively deranged".

Deborah's mother - who lost custody of her daughter in 2000 - started sobbing in court when she heard her daughter would have struggled to walk, sit, eat or move.

"There is no doubt, in my view, that this girl would have had significant pain and had significant difficulty walking and would have had fever on or off, or consistently," Dr Sousa said.

"I think this girl would have been very, very unwell at some point."

Dr Sousa said that by the last week of her life, the infection would have been "established and escalating" and it was common for patients in severe cases to "speak gibberish".

Hours before she died, Deborah - who had been left by her aunts with no food or water in the dirt backyard of their Palmerston home - was overheard talking about "fairies, angels and witches".

She also said a limousine was coming to pick her up.

"This is, in my mind, an indicator of delirium," Dr Sousa said.

But, he conceded, when Deborah presented to RDH about 8.30pm (CST) on July 12 last year there were no visible signs of skin infection or trauma.

Melville told police that Family and Community Services (FACS) had visited the house to check on the children every three months.

"(She told me) that FACS had been to the residence the previous day and seen Deborah and said she was fine," said first class constable Kim Dye, who questioned the aunt on the night of the death.

St John Ambulance executive secretary Deborah Downs said Reynolds "appeared distraught" when she drove her to the hospital, imploring God to "please let her breathe".

When they came across an ambulance that had stopped on the side of the road, Reynolds cried: "That's it, she is f****g dead," Ms Down said.

The trial before Justice Trevor Riley continues.

It was the girl's aunt. Besides, who other than aborignies lives with 17 people in a 3-bedroom house?

[Alyrium Denryle]

*mutters something about racism still being rampant in australia*

[Stark]

*mutters something about racism still being rampant in australia*

Oh, that's hilarious. Do explain the native experience in Australian cities, particularly shithole nowhere towns like Darwin.

[Eulogy]

It was the girl's aunt. Besides, who other than aborignies lives with 17 people in a 3-bedroom house?

Many folks at SDN don't need me to tell them this, but that's a surefire way to spread disease. A population density like that means that, depending on the number of safe rooms to sleep in, each room could comfortably only accomodate 3-5 people. Even if the house is mostly empty during the day (and who wouldn't want to get out of an overcrowded building?) the fact that people sleep so close together alone gives pathogens excellent chances for fresh prey.

And they wonder why the government wants their kids to wash their faces so much. Oh, ignorance.

[Alyrium Denryle]

*mutters something about racism still being rampant in australia*

Oh, that's hilarious. Do explain the native experience in Australian cities, particularly shithole nowhere towns like Darwin.

What? Are you going to sit there and tell me that statements like this

It was the girl's aunt. Besides, who other than aborignies lives with 17 people in a 3-bedroom house?

Are not racist?

Hell, it isnt as if my own country is much better.

[Alyrium Denryle]

It was the girl's aunt. Besides, who other than aborignies lives with 17 people in a 3-bedroom house?

Many folks at SDN don't need me to tell them this, but that's a surefire way to spread disease. A population density like that means that, depending on the number of safe rooms to sleep in, each room could comfortably only accomodate 3-5 people. Even if the house is mostly empty during the day (and who wouldn't want to get out of an overcrowded building?) the fact that people sleep so close together alone gives pathogens excellent chances for fresh prey.

And they wonder why the government wants their kids to wash their faces so much. Oh, ignorance.

To be blunt, any urban environment is a disease-pit. Most people are in population densities higher than that as they commute too and from work, or even when they are at work. They key to avoiding disease at small spatial scales like this is not population density. It is sanitation. Reducing vectors for disease etc. Franky even in a 5 person three bedroom home, if one person comes home with influenza, everyone is exposed regardless.

[Stark]

So you don't contest it's factual accuracy, then? I mean, you're Captain Obvious who thinks it's a big revealation that Australia is racist (even though pretty much all the Australian posters say this semi-constantly). The situation of aboridgines in Australia is appallingly broken, and if I said any family camped out under a tree in front of a liqour store at 10am drinking beer together is probably aboridginal, this is just a sad reflection of the utter failure of social policy.

[Alyrium Denryle]

So you don't contest it's factual accuracy, then? I mean, you're Captain Obvious who thinks it's a big revealation that Australia is racist (even though pretty much all the Australian posters say this semi-constantly). The situation of aboridgines in Australia is appallingly broken, and if I said any family camped out under a tree in front of a liqour store at 10am drinking beer together is probably aboridginal, this is just a sad reflection of the utter failure of social policy.

Oh, I will give you that. On the other hand to have someone reinforce that kind of stereotype, on this board... that is what I found shocking. Had she said "You know, there is a significant non-zero chance that this family is aboriginal due to our broken system and entrenched racism" or something similar that would be one thing. That would be acknowledging a problem.

Saying the quote I repeated above, in response to an alternative scenario (foster care system abuse) is another matter entirely, and displays low-level closet-racism on the part of the poster. I was trying not to be to obtuse about it, and call Lusankya a racist, but there it is.

Imagine if I had said

"Who else but a black man has semi-anonymous gay sex on the down low and then spreads HIV to his heterosexual partner?"

Kinda racist.

[Stark]

Except your example is based on nothing, where as Lus's question is based on facts. It's not pleasant, but she didn't say 'all aboriginies live in x way', merely that the facts in the articles suggest they're native Australians.

Frankly, candy-coating shit like this and pretending these trends don't exist is EXACTLY why native social policy has failed for decades in Australia. Oh no, can't admit this problem exists in the native community, that's RACIST and DISCRIMINATORY. Okay, I'm going to say it - rural native communities have huge problems with alcoholism. Damn, guess I'm racist for reading that study, lol.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Oh, I will give you that. On the other hand to have someone reinforce that kind of stereotype, on this board... that is what I found shocking. Had she said "You know, there is a significant non-zero chance that this family is aboriginal due to our broken system and entrenched racism" or something similar that would be one thing. That would be acknowledging a problem.

Saying the quote I repeated above, in response to an alternative scenario (foster care system abuse) is another matter entirely, and displays low-level closet-racism on the part of the poster. I was trying not to be to obtuse about it, and call Lusankya a racist, but there it is.

Imagine if I had said

"Who else but a black man has semi-anonymous gay sex on the down low and then spreads HIV to his heterosexual partner?"

Kinda racist.

When is a stereotype a stereotype when it is statistically true?

And I think comparing the "stereotype" you suggested to the one about aborigines is pretty much comparing apples and oranges. One is probably false, while the other is likely true.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Except your example is based on nothing, where as Lus's question is based on facts. It's not pleasant, but she didn't say 'all aboriginies live in x way', merely that the facts in the articles suggest they're native Australians.

Actually, it is not. Statistically if you look at a case where that occurs, it is likely a black male. The group with the fastest growing rate of HIV infection is black females in the US last I checked.

But saying "Who else but..." is an inherently racist statement unless the behavior in question only (or almost only) occurs in one demographic group.

Okay, I'm going to say it - rural native communities have huge problems with alcoholism. Damn, guess I'm racist for reading that study, lol.

No. You are not a racist. You are just engaging in a strawman. Not once did I say that acknowledging a statistical trend is racist. However saying "Who else but<demographic group> would do <this>" is a racist statement. You can dodge that simple truth all you want. Engage in strawmen, I dont give a damn. But it remains the truth