A child, he was just a child.

I received these photos in an e-mail on Wednesday morning whilst hot desking at one of our offices in Pembrokeshire.  The view out of the window was leafy and tranquil, odd as the office is in the middle of an Army training facility.  This made the brutality in the email even more apparent.  My first reaction was the scroll through the images and feel appalled at the brutality of the Sharia justice system.  It was one of those fast scrolls with the scroll wheel on the mouse, a bit jumpy as it was an oldish mouse and not the one I was not used too.  That slightly sticky mouse has resulted in 2 nights of poor sleep and bad breams.

I was in Pembrokeshire to carry out an internal process review (yawn, yes an audit).  Not my favourite task but one that has too be done and it falls to me to do them for my bit of the business.  I had low expectations of the West Wales team as I had had staff in the region for the previous week trying to help the team there get ready for our visit.  So the day was staring at a low ebb and not that keen to get stuck into what was probably going to be a difficult day, I showed the e-mail to one of my colleagues, also a dad of too young kids (not a MAD but getting close).  His reaction was the same as mine, “that’s barbaric” and he went off to find some files to pick over.  It was on the second viewing that I noticed the young boys eyes, the scroll wheel stuck even more and the images on the monitor didn’t fly by they crawled by and the face of this child looked out at me.

I do not even want to go back to review the pictures but the quiet calm, almost relaxed look on the boys face in picture one makes me feel almost sick as I know what is coming.  The comments on the e-mail just make me feel helpless.

I know I live a comfortable life, in a wealthy secular society.  I understand that there are a wide variety to cultures, faiths and societies that make up our world.  I know that in our cosy world it is possible to indulge in ideas around the primacy of children.

We are moved by the story of Baby P and the failings of our states safety net.  The needless deaths, distress, disfigurement of adults and children in Gazza, and any one of  a dozen stories of needles pain being inflected on kids and adults alike.  I still recall the day I sat on a train heading for Aberdeen reading a small article in the Ft on the follow up to the then distant Victoria Climbie case and weeping.  Now weeping at the FT is something normally reserved for investment bankers during the credit crunch.  And me crying is becoming a consistent theme in this blog but that’s what being a dad has done to me.

Actually not just me.  I forwarded the e-mail to my wife and she deleted without reading.  When I asked why she said that I had sub titled the e-mail nightmares assured and she had enough trauma in her life without me adding to it.  Neither of us want to sit through either Comic relief or any other telethon as it means we will end up even poorer at the end.  Not a bad thing if our cash helps reduce the suffering of other and I believe it does, but the silent blubbing as we sit on the sofa or in bed feeling absolutely helpless is hard to take.  People talk abut compassion fatigue and I am baffled.  My compassion is not tired, exhausted or even slightly knackered, it’s the feeling of retched inadequacy that is exhausting.

 

Back to this e-mail.  This is not suffering to a child as a result of a natural disaster or just the product of a society that has, through no fault of its own, been forced to focus on the here and now and developed a structure where some life is expendable to allow other life to go on.  I am not suggesting that’s right but it does happen and I can just about hang on to a rational corner of my brain and live with it.  These photographs appear to demonstrate summery justice, as I feel that even a Sharia court would not sentence any one to having there arm run over, with little due process and no opportunity for defence.  No child can adequately defend themselves in a summary situation control by adults.

Time has now passed since I first saw these pictures, there impact has not lessened, if anything it has increased, made the more vivid with thought.  I am not an apologist for criminals of any age, I am not a very good Christian, I have no axe to grind with any faith.  I do however feel that justice has too be fair not barbaric and that any punishment must fit the crime.  Permanent disfigurement and disability from a crush injury almost certainly means that this child will die young and in great pain.  That is not making the world a better place for anyone.

Is there anything I as a middle aged dad, with liberal leanings and a propensity to crying can do to stop this sort of thing happening. Yes write it down an publish it.  So here it is.  Do as you see fit with it.  Agree, disagree, just talk abut it and I may be wrong but deliberate suffering to children, in the name of common law cannot ever to right.