I tend to complain a lot about Canada's justice system, and maybe it gets redundant, but WHY oh WHY does this system repeatedly give us so many reasons to pick it apart?
A thirteen year old Quebec girl had her innocent life taken - by her own father I might add - and while she will never have the chance to experience adulthood, he got a mere 60 days in jail, of which he will serve just two days a week over 30 weeks behind bars (or in a condo, who knows?). What?!?
Seventy-four year old Moussa Sidime (the father and the accused) is being portrayed as a gentle man who showed plenty of emotion during sentencing as he plead guilty to manslaughter. But I ask, what kind of gentle father loses his temper to the point he beats his own daughter to death?
Apparently Sidime didn't like the way his daughter completed a household chore, he also says she was disrespectful and that he didn't mean to do her the harm that he did. While I'm pretty sure he didn't intend the outcome that came to be, it happened plain and simple. "It was one of those freak accidents," says his other supportive daughter, "if he could take it back, he would..." The family says they are "extremely happy" about the sentencing.
Angered by his now deceased daughter's actions, or lack thereof, from his account, Sidime walked over to her and slapped her - twice across the face and also on the bottom. The force was enough to jar her head in such a motion that it ruptured an artery in her head, cutting off oxygen to her brain. She died in the hospital two days later. How very sad and tragic... In court Sidime told the judge he had slapped his son in the past but said it "wasn't in his nature to strike his children." Hmmm... I beg to differ. He claims he is not violent and that what happened "was the will of God." Really???
While I realize this man will live with his guilt forever (or he should) and that a jail sentence won't likely make a difference, what kind of precedence are we setting? What kind of message are we sending? That it's okay to fly off the handle and roughly beat your child? Especially if you're typically "gentle."
Like the judge says, this may be an "exceptional case" but it just doesn't sit well that a person can walk away scott free after a terrible ending like this, not with me anyway.
