Mothers Murdering Children
Mother Kills 22 Month Old Toddler After Arguing With Father
Gemma Gaye Killeen
A YOUNG woman who pleaded guilty to murdering her son never intended to kill him but abandoned him in a bid to grab the attention of her on-and-off again partner, WA’s Supreme Court has been told.
Gemma Gaye Killeen, 23, is facing the possibility of life imprisonment after admitting to killing her 22-month-old son Te Reringa Kayden Wetere at Hillarys Boat Harbour in November 2010.
She was due to be sentenced today however Justice Stephen Hall reserved his decision until Friday.
During the sentencing hearing, the court was told the toddler’s body was found floating in the water by passersby just over an hour after his mother had falsely claimed he had been abducted.
Another Mum Not Guilty of Murdering Children
An Australian mother has been convicted in Canada of the manslaughter of her two young sons after their bodies were found floating in a bathtub.
An Alberta judge found Allyson McConnell, 33, formerly from Gosford on the NSW Central Coast, not guilty of the more serious second degree murder charges.
Justice Michelle Crichton ruled there was reasonable doubt McConnell was able to form the intent to murder 10-month-old Jayden and two-year-old Connor by drowning them in a bathtub in the family’s Millet, Alberta, home on February 1, 2010.
After an emotional two-week trial in Wetaskiwin, Justice Crichton took a month to come to Friday’s verdict.
McConnell, who has made repeated suicide attempts and has been held in the psychiatric ward at an Alberta hospital, will be sentenced on May 9.
In 2006, McConnell worked at a Canadian ski resort and met local man Curtis McConnell.
When Abortion is not Enough: Women’s Rights Reaches New Low
Editor: KILLING newborn babies should be allowed if the mother wishes, Australian philosophers have argued in a prestigious journal, however their whole argument is premised on the notion that mothers ‘own’ children, and this property is theirs solely to decide on matters as important as life or death.
The role, rights and responsibilities of the fathers and other family members is ignored, perhaps denoting that these supposed philosophers are engaging in something other than open-minded scientific debate. Perhaps this discussions has something to do with the growing number of women being persecuted for filicide, the murder of the children, especially at the point of birth. We in Australia are quite familiar we a particularly high profile case of a sports personality who killed her new born child because it was expected to interfere with her sports career.
Perhaps in the well tried fashion of the likes of Jen McIntosh, this publication’s true purpose is to provide legal leverage to such mothers, in order to avoid prison terms for killing new born babies.
Its quite interesting that such leniency does not seem to be extended to the father in this philosophical discussion.
Mother Murders Children – Sole Custody Takes Three More Children’s Lives
THE heartbroken Hobart father of two children killed by their mother in murder-suicide in Melbourne will always be haunted by the knowledge he missed out on their final years.
Dominic Maher yesterday said he felt let down by a system that had prevented him from seeing son Matthew, 11 and daughter Melanie, 13, for three years before they died.
Police believe mother Kylie Fowler, 36, argued with the children’s older half sister Sammantha Fowler, 18, before killing all three children, setting fire to the house and committing suicide.
Mr Maher, of Chigwell, said he had spent years locked in court battles with Ms Maher, but when it consistently decided in her favour, he eventually moved to Tasmania.
He been preparing a video for his children explaining why he had lost contact with them which he planned to hand to them on their 18th birthday.
Fraud in Australia’s plan to reduce violence against women
The 2009 Australian project a ‘Time for Action: The National Council’s Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, 2009-2021′, was approved for implementation by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The Plan, which is split into several parts, puts forth recommendations for new legislation, changes to judicial processes, requests for funding and ideas for domestic programs targeted at reducing domestic and sexual violence against women. The advisory council has some powers to implement programs through the Office of Women among other agencies, but much of what the government funded program calls for requires approval by Parliament.
The entire premise of the National Plan was underpinned by the belief in this statement:“While a small proportion of men are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, the majority of people who experience this kind of violence are women in a home, at the hands of men they know.”[27-pg1] But a quick examination of the statistics and data shows a much different picture to the rather sweeping indictment of Australian men the National Council paints.
Tanilla Warwick-Deaves – another child murdered by mother and her boyfriend
THE mother of murdered toddler Tanilla Warwick-Deaves has faced court charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Handcuffed and dressed in a yellow cardigan Donna Deaves faced Gosford Local Court this morning where she did not apply for bail during her brief appearance.
The 27-year-old was arrested about 9am yesterday at Erina on the state’s Central Coast.
Two-year-old Tanilla was found with serious injuries at her mother’s Watanobbi home just before 4am on August 27.
She was taken to Wyong Hospital but pronounced dead a short time later.
US mum convicted of baby microwave murder
JURORS in an American woman’s third trial have found her guilty of burning her baby daughter to death in a microwave oven.
China Arnold, 31, was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of 28-day-old Paris Talley in August 2005.
Arnold could receive the death penalty. The sentencing phase will begin on Monday next week.
Arnold’s first trial ended in a mistrial.
She was found guilty in the second trial, but that conviction was reversed last year. An appeals court found there was misconduct by prosecutors and the trial court made an error by not allowing a material witness to testify in Arnold’s defence.
Prosecutors have said Arnold intentionally put the baby in the microwave after a fight with her boyfriend. The defence had argued someone else was responsible.
Medical experts testified that the baby died after her temperature reached about 42 degrees Celsius and she probably was in the microwave for more than two minutes, dying quickly afterward.
“She died because she was overheated,” said Dr Marcella Fierro, retired chief medical examiner for Virginia. “She was cooked.”‘
Messages seeking comment from the prosecutor and defence lawyer were left at their offices, but a gag order in the case prevents anyone connected to it from commenting outside court.
Assistant Prosecutor Dan Brandt told jurors in court Arnold’s actions were “even more purposeful” than a slaying with a gun or knife, the Dayton Daily News reported.
“Baby Paris is without life, but she’s not without a voice,” Mr Brandt told jurors in closing arguments. “Please listen to her.”
Mr Brandt said Arnold had to carry the baby over, place her in the microwave, shut the door and press buttons.
Then she waited while her child cooked to death, Mr Brandt said.
Defence lawyer Jon Paul Rion argued the evidence pointed as much to Terrell Talley, the baby’s father, as it did Arnold, however the jury was unconvinced by the compelling evidence against the mother.
“This doesn’t make sense to you,” Mr Rion told jurors. “It doesn’t. I’ve been watching your faces.”
The prosecutor cut and fit evidence to show “this loving mother somehow was so evil that she killed her baby in this way”, he said.
Kiesha Abrahams’ grim life and death
kiesha abrahams
GRIM details of little Kiesha Abrahams’ life in the care of her mother and stepfather have emerged following the discovery of her remains in bushland.
Detectives are expected to include in their brief of evidence witness statements alleging that Kiesha was the subject of harsh, brutal discipline and was sometimes “flogged”.
At other times, she was allegedly forced to put her hands on her head and stand in the corner of a room for hours.
Police records show the Abrahams family had 36 complaints lodged with police. No charges were laid.
Family friend Kylie Marshall told The Sunday Telegraph she thought Kiesha was unhappy when she was out and about.
Ms Marshall recalled encountering the trio outside a bottle shop at Bidwill. Kiesha was holding hands with her stepfather.
When she asked her mother, Kristi Abrahams, who was pregnant at the time, why Kiesha was crying, Abrahams allegedly responded: “She’s jealous. It’s because I’m pregnant and sick. She’s gotta make herself sick as well.”
The bubbly six-year-old, who loved singing into her Hannah Montana microphone, was barely seen at school and had been in class only five times during the 2010 school year before her disappearance in July.
After a nine-month investigation, Abrahams and her partner Robert Smith were arrested on Friday morning and charged with killing Kiesha and burying her in bushland at Shalvey. They have been remanded in custody and have yet to plead.
From day one, the pair were the main suspects.
Detectives drew up detailed profiles on both their lives, studying their bank accounts, unpicking their family history and following their daily habits.
Police seized their cars and mobile phones for “forensic testing”. When they were handed back, they had been bugged with listening devices so investigators could keep tabs on their conversations.
Last week, detectives got word that Abrahams and Smith would visit the little girl’s gravesite in a macabre service to mark her seventh birthday. The arrests were made at 1am as they allegedly left the bush block at Shalvey.
Detective Superintendent Geoff Beresford, director of the State Crime Command’s Serious Crime Directorate, signed off on the arrest warrant and said it was one of the most satisfying moments of the past year.
“It’s been a long, frustrating process for nine months. It’s a sad case (and) regrettably, there are no winners,” he said.
Neighbours of Abrahams and Smith at Seven Hills said arguments between the couple had escalated in recent days.
“There was a lot of fighting where I’d see him bashing on the back of the house yelling at her,” one neighbour said.
Anger has turned to mourning for Kiesha in the Mount Druitt community. Local residents said they felt betrayed by the couple, who received endless community support.
“We have to wait and see what happens (in court), but there are so many people who put their lives on hold to help them who feel like they’ve been betrayed or lied to,” one local, Kylie, said.
Mum loses appeal over gassing murder
A woman who gassed her children to death in the family car has lost an appeal against her conviction for murder.
The 43-year-old woman, who cannot be identified, was found guilty after a trial in the Supreme Court in Brisbane earlier this year of murdering her six-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter at their home at Sandstone Point, near Bribie Island.
She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of her 16-year-old son, and was sentenced to life in jail.
During the trial, the Brisbane court was told the mother decided to kill herself and the children as an act of revenge towards her ex-husband.
She had been angry, the court was told, after being issued with a Family Court order stating they would spend Christmas Day with their dad.
The mother gave the children crushed sleeping tablets before putting them in the back seat of the car, attaching a garden hose to the exhaust, and switching on the ignition.
The bodies of the children, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning, were found on November 22, 2002.
The woman took her case to the Court of Appeal in Brisbane in November, arguing her conviction was unsound because she was suffering from diminished responsibility at the time.
Her lawyer, Michael Byrne QC, also argued that information given to the jury about how one of the psychiatrists came to be involved in the case could have been prejudicial.
He said the correct verdict should have been one of manslaughter, which should carry with it a sentence of between eight and 12 years’ jail.
However the crown argued the evidence about the woman’s state of mind at the time supported a conviction for murder.
In a written judgment handed down on Thursday, the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal.
In his reasons Justice Hugh Fraser said the evidence about the psychiatrist could not have contributed to a miscarriage of justice.
Justice Fraser also found the verdict was sound because the woman had not proved she was unable to control her actions.
Christine Flatley
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/mum-loses-appeal-over-gassing-murder-20101223-1963o.html
Baby safe haven laws – Victoria moves to protect newborns
VICTORIA is leading the push to have ”baby safe haven” laws introduced in Australia – a move that supporters say would prevent another tragedy like the death of two-day-old Tegan Lane, whose mother, former water polo champion Keli Lane, was convicted of her murder last week.
