Australia: Boys died in shower as mum 'passed out'

Submitted by Minuteman on Mon, 2013-04-29 13:25

Link here. Excerpt:

'An exhausted Miranda Hebble put her two young sons in the shower and closed the bathroom door.

She fell asleep and woke up about 10 hours later to find water overflowing from the shower - and both boys dead.

The West Australian coroner is examining the deaths of Lochlan James Stevens, aged two, and Malachi Isaac Stevens, 10 months, who died in November 2008.

Ms Hebble, then aged 22, was caring for her sons alone in Perth while the boys' father Christopher Stevens, then aged 23, was working on a fly-in fly-out basis.

The couple have since separated.

Counsel assisting the inquest, Kate Ellson, said Ms Hebble had no history of mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse.

She was a quiet person and had been struggling with sleep because of Malachi's restlessness.'

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Comments

The tone and inferences of the writing are obvious: it's really kind of dad's fault since he wasn't in the home/apt. So maybe since mom was so exhausted, she gets a pass.

She put a toddler and an infant in a bathtub with water going into it, and then walked away. There's no excuse. None. And it also sounds to me like there's signs of trauma on the victims' bodies.

Bet she walks, with a great flourish of poor-dearism to herald her along.

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Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2013-04-29 15:31

lots of red flags here....

She had a previous incident of neglect (in 2008 authorities were called for leaving a baby in the car unattended. Baby was hot, red in face and screaming).

Also she shut the door on the babies while they were in the shower. (Who does that?)

She testified that she put the baby in the shower because he had pulled feces out of his nappy and was smearing it on walls and carpet. An attentive parent would change the diaper as soon as it was evident that baby was sticking their hand down there. Having a diaper full of feces and urine is uncomfortable and irritating to the skin.

To me this looks like a parent that has no parenting skills, and someone who does not understand a baby's needs and communication methods. It is a shame that parenting skills are not taught in schools. Our educational systems seem to think it is sexist or demeaning or not as important as "women's studies" and other stuff.

Colicky babies are stressful. But dealing with it should be part of parents' expectations. I have also heard that many people who were colicky babies end up being very successful adults.

I hope they tested the mother for drugs after the incident. Even though she has "no history" of drug abuse, many irresponsible mothers abuse prescription drugs or over the counter drugs, and often avoid a criminal or medical record of drug use.

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Submitted by Kris on Mon, 2013-04-29 17:00

And unfortunately, I also agree that she's likely to walk.

I read this story with horror last night - not so much at what had happened (which was horrifying enough) but at the lack of any vitriol, blame or consequence for the mother, and the subtle insinuations that the father is somehow just as - if not more so - to blame than her.

Interestingly, two women with me watched the video clip and both pointed out how 'guilty' the father looked. Direct quote: "He doesn't exactly look upset, does he? Not exactly a caring father...". It seems women can truly do no wrong.

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Submitted by GaryB on Tue, 2013-04-30 03:52