LIFE NOT WORTH LIVING:

Mum on bond for killing sick son (Drew Warne-Smith, June 3, 2004, news.com.au)

DANIELA Dawes killed her autistic son. She pinched his nose and closed his mouth, ensuring 10-year-old Jason could no longer breath.

But yesterday, 10 months after taking his life and then attempting to take her own with a razor blade, Ms Dawes was released on a good behaviour bond on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

After a three-day sentencing hearing in which the unfathomable torment of Ms Dawes's life was laid bare, judge Roy Ellis said she would punish herself for the rest of her life.

The court found that eight weeks before the killing, the 39-year-old had slumped into a "major depressive illness".

It was an illness exacerbated by the burden of caring for her profoundly autistic son, who could not speak, and was yet to be toilet-trained.

"This was an unrelenting, tiring, frustrating and neverending task that few people have ever experienced or are even capable of fully comprehending," Judge Ellis said.

What about her right to choose?

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 2, 2004 7:31 PM