A terrible tragedy + Playing Games

A beautiful sunny day here today, chilly but nice and bright. Most of our trees have lost their leaves now apart from the conifers. The birds, which seemed to have disappeared over the last couple of months, are once more flocking back to the feeders and the fat balls.

Yesterday, two men were convicted of the torture and death of a seventeen-month old baby boy. The mother cannot be named. Why the hell not? She knew full well what was going on, she even smeared the boy's face with chocolate to hide his injuries. She neatly folded his blood stained clothes and put them away in drawers as if they were the laundry.

His abusers were the mother's boyfriend and the male lodger. It is all the more horrific because this child had been on the child protection list for many months. He had been seen by over sixty professionals. Sometimes these professionals visited the home twice a week. Every time they believed what the mother told them about what injuries could be seen. How can people be so totally blind? On his last admission to hospital, his broken spine and broken ribs were missed by the examining doctor. It is beyond belief. This doctor has had 25 years experience in tending to sick children but says that abuse never crossed her mind as "it is unheard of" in her Country.

For God's sake, how do you explain ripped out fingernails, the tip of one finger missing. I despair over our care system. Because they chose to be taken in by the mother, this dear little child's agony and abuse went on and on unchecked. He eventually died with a broken spine, broken ribs and many injuries to his face and head. His death was actually caused by a brutal punch to the face.

The mother had twice been arrested on charges of child abuse but the proceedings had been dropped! Why did this not make the professionals suspicious? Why on earth did they do nothing? Child abuse makes my blood boil. How can a child aged less than two defend himself? How can any child defend themselves? He would not even have been capable of telling what was happening to him. He was "trained" to drop his head at the sound of one of his abusers clicking his fingers, he was treated like a dog - no, worse than a dog.

God rest his little soul. He must have known such terror and such agony in his seventeen months of life. Well, I hope heads will roll over this. Our child agencies should have protected him, they failed and his life was lost.

Of course, the excuses are being pulled out. All the professionals trying to cover their own tracks. The boyfriend stated he was bullied as a child (so was I) and has been treated for alcoholism. Oh dear, poor him. He chose to drink, nobody made him. I am sure nobody held him down and poured alcohol down his throat for weeks on end. Does this give the right to a six foot four inch tall man to systematically torture a tiny child? No!

The boyfriends seems to have been into violence. The home was full of nazi memorabilia and many weapons. He also kept a Rottweiler dog and allowed the dog to bite the boy as it appears from some of the wounds. The house was filthy and alive with fleas.

I called him a man. That is an insult to all men. This is no man. This is a gutless coward, a sadistic bully who has no place in a decent society. I could use much stronger language.

Apparently the mother spent most of her time in computer chat rooms. It would seem that she has not been charged with anything. The two men are awaiting sentence. Well, I hope they throw the proverbial book at them and they have it very tough in prison. I hope some of the professionals lose their jobs. This dear little boy would have been alive today if they had done what they are there to do - protect the CHILD.

Anyway, on to brighter things. The family were over last Saturday. They brought with them their Wii machine. Now, I had heard of them but never seen one. What fun we had. Everything was plugged in and on went the t.v. We started with a game of go-kart racing. Naturally, I spent most of the time off the track! Nathan never stays there, he much prefers to drive through flower beds or into the lake, accompanied by great gales of laughter.

Then Dean had a couple of bouts of boxing. He won the first game but in the second got beaten by a female opponent. The star of the day was Mike at ten-pin bowling. Having never used one of these gadgets before, he lined himself up, took aim with his handset and scored three strikes in one game (a turkey) and ran up an amazing score. Only problem is, just like the computer, you can lose track of time. Four hours of games went by in a flash. It was lovely to be doing something all together and to have such fun. Becky uses it at home for doing fitness workouts. Yes, we would love one but the old purse will not allow.

Time to get the washing out of the machine. At least it can hang outside, with a stiff breeze it should be dry in no time. I must try to stick to my good intentions and not spend the whole day on here again!

Hope your week is going well, dear friends and readers.