On Monday a man was sentenced to a non-parole period of 32 years.
What was his crime?
He threw his young daughter off a bridge in revenge against her mother.
I would like to know how 32 years is enough? He robbed this child of about 80 years of life. Why should he get to be free after only 32? As far as I know he has never shown remorse for his crime. He was deemed sane by the court. Yes, he is already 37 years old but why should his age stop his from getting a life sentence. The mother of the child sure has a life sentence. For the rest of her life she must go on knowing that her child died at the hands of her father. A man that every little girl should be able to trust with their life.
I listened to the judge hand down the sentence. It was broadcast live on the radio. His crime was described in chilling detail. At the time he had another one of his children in the car with him. This child begged his father to go back and get his sister. That little boy will forever have those memories. Not only will he have to grow up without his sister, he will have the memory of his father throwing that little girl off the bridge. No child should ever have to witness such an atrocious act.
I honestly don't care how good of a man he may have been before that day. It does not and should not excuse him for what he did!
Sadly the justice system is full of cases like this. Far too often we hear light sentences being given because the offender "had a bad childhood" like its some kind of excuse or reason to commit a crime. What about the victims of these crimes? They will feel the impact of the crime for the rest of their lives. They are innocent and deserve justice to be served. I fully believe that all that should be looked at is the crime and the impact the crime has had on the victims and on the larger community. Of course as with everything there would be exceptions to this rule, otherwise it would not be a fair justice system. Especially when it comes to determining the offenders mental capacity at the time of the crime.
Obviously someone who throws their child from a bridge has some sort of mental issues, and these were considered and thrown out by the jury so should not have been taken into consideration come sentencing.
There will never be real peace for this family though, no matter how long he serves in prison. He condemned them to a life sentence the moment he threw his child away.
