Posted on 01/14/2005 12:34:21 PM PST by Rutles4Ever
A wealthy couple who killed their three-year-old adopted son because he was not the "perfect child" they craved were jailed for five years yesterday.
Ian and Angela Gay became incensed that Christian Blewitt didn't live up to their expectations of the ideal family.
Five weeks into an adoption trial period, as their frustration grew, they force-fed him more than four teaspoons of salt as a punishment for refusing his food before dumping him in a cot, where he collapsed. He suffered severe brain injuries, a heart attack and died in hospital four days later.
The prosecution alleged that he had also been either beaten or shaken after doctors found that he had 11 areas of bruising around the brain.
The couple, who had also adopted Christian's younger brother and sister, were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
Sentencing them at Worcester Crown Court, Mr Justice Pitchers said Christian's behaviour was "hardly out of the ordinary" for a three-year-old, even one that hadn't had Christian's "difficult start" in life. He was taken into care shortly after his first birthday and then spent time with foster parents.
He said the Gays, from Halesowen, West Midlands, were "intelligent people" and had made "a deliberate choice in cold blood" how to punish Christian.
He accepted that it was a single episode of abuse and that they were unaware the dose would prove fatal.
He accused Angela Gay, 37, of being "entirely selfish". Her return to work as Christian lay critically ill showed "where her priorities lay". He added: "You were interested only in what was best for you, not what was best for him.''
As sentence was passed, the Gays held hands and showed no emotion. Having left the dock they embraced before being led away separately.
Mrs Gay's parents, Margaret and Royston Swain, both 61, said they were "completely devastated" by the verdicts. Mr Swain said: "Angela has worked hard all her life and was one of the few actuaries in the UK. She would have been the perfect mother.'' Christian's natural mother, Tracey Osik, 23, said: "I was furious when I heard that they only got five years. It should have been life after what they did to Christian. I might not have been the best mother but they had all the advantages."
Christian Blewitt with his natural mother Tracey Osik Christian's maternal grandmother, Susan Osik, said her daughter "didn't give a damn" about her son or what happened to him, preferring to spend her time nightclubbing.
She said: "Tracey wasn't looking after him properly. All his clothes were wet. I was concerned about his health. He started losing a lot of weight. He had to go to hospital on a drip.
"He didn't have much but that couple had everything. They should have been able to give Christian, his brother and sister a far better life.
"They should have looked after him properly. Five years isn't enough. It was very cruel, and they should throw away the key."
Det Ch Insp Steve Cullen, from West Mercia police, said: "Christian led a brief life and we can at least be thankful that the period he spent with his foster carers were happy times. We are pleased that justice has been done for Christian today."
Publishers wishing to reproduce
Wow - I didn't catch that.
My heart was already broken so I went to the link. What an amazingly beautiful little boy.
It seems that UK does the same stupid things with chldren from troubled homes that we do here--snatches them away and places them in foster care without trying to help or rehabilitate their natural mothers. Christian's mother was not perfect, but she was not a criminal either, and might well have benefitted from parenting classes, therapy, day care, and other methods of improving her parenting.
Here in the USA, child protective services (CPS) earns bonuses of thousands of dollars of federal money for each child they place outside its natural home, leading to horrible abuses of natural parents who would clearly benefit by developing parenting skills. A disgrace!
That was justice? Det Ch Insp Steve Cullen, from West Mercia police is a moron just like the judge...
That's just bizarre. Not to stick up for the "parents", but did anyone here know that 4 teaspoons of salt could kill a child? I sure didn't.
Of course that doesn't explain the 11 bruises around the brain....
Yeah, I'm still scratching my head over the Pope's remarks. That, coupled with some really bizarre, ominous dreams I've had of late, have really thrown my head in a spin. Here's an encouraging thought though:
In fear of Moses being born, what did the devil do? Kill the firstborns.
In fear of Jesus being born, what did the devil do? Kill the firstborns.
What is the devil doing now? He's not just killing firstborns, but trying to wipe out an entire generation. What do you think he's afraid of this time?
There is hope, my friend.
One can only hope the court has dispatched the men in white coats to fetch Angela's father and put him in a secure psychiatric facility, after this inane comment.
http://newswww.bbc.net.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/4105943.stm
Updated: Friday, 17 December, 2004, 18:11 GMT
Accused regrets 'vegetable' slur
Christian Blewitt died in hospital in Birmingham
A house husband accused of murdering a boy he and his wife were hoping to adopt said he regrets calling the child "a vegetable" weeks before he died.
Ian and Angela Gay, of Halesowen, are accused of poisoning three-year-old Christian Blewitt with salt and causing him a head injury from which he died.
Mr Gay, 37, gave evidence in his defence for the first time on Friday at Worcester Crown Court.
The couple deny murder or manslaughter and one count of child cruelty.
'Zombie' slur
The court heard Christian had been placed with the couple as prospective parents, together with his younger brother and sister, in November 2002.
Mr Gay told the jury: "I used words which I regret.
"I think I called him brainless. I think I called him a vegetable perhaps, I'm not sure. And I think I might have called him a zombie."
Mr Gay told the jury he and his wife, both from Lutley Lane, Hayley Green, had become increasingly concerned about the child's behaviour and called Sandwell social services for advice.
The defendant, who worked as an electrical engineer before taking up domestic duties full-time, described how Christian withdrew into himself whenever his younger brother was not around.
Blunt force
He said he had rung the social worker assigned to their case for reassurance.
Julia Macur QC, prosecuting, told the court previously that Christian was admitted to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley just weeks after the boy was placed with the couple suffering salt poisoning and head injuries.
He was transferred to Birmingham Children's Hospital where he died.
The jury was told 11 separate areas of bruising were found on the top of Christian's head during a post-mortem examination and that a pathologist concluded he had died from blunt force trauma.
Ms Macur said that during police interviews, the couple had described finding Christian comatose in his bedroom where he had been left after throwing a plate of food to the floor during lunch.
The case continues.
Don't want my heart broken anymore by these MURDERERS and so called PARENTS so I won't go there. But...5 years??????????? They should be put away for the rest of their miserable lives. How DARE they sit in judgement about how imperfect this child was. He was a child of God. Same as all of us. It is THEM who are imperfect. They'll meet their maker too one day and then they'll find out just how IMPERFECT they are and how PERFECT God is!
If there is no evil, how can the presence of non-existent evil be used as proof of God's non-existence?
Silly liberals.
Are we witnessing the slippery slope of Roe vs. Wade?
YES! You are absolutely correct, IMHO. he wants to destroy our young people because he knows that God will use them in a mighty way to usher in His Kingdom. There's a great move of God right now amongst our young kids and the devil fears it.
I really have to stop reading these kinds of stories.
Surely someone will give them their just desert somewhere down the line. Quite probably in prison.
"Mr Swain said: 'Angela has worked hard all her life and was one of the few actuaries in the UK. She would have been the perfect mother.'"
As an actuary, she should've been able to statistically predict the death of her child, don't ya think?
Only five years? Simply amazing.
About the only good thing I can think of in cases like this is that the worse it gets, the closer God is to coming to set things right again.
Who said there no such things as monsters?.......
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