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harrykims#1fan
Fan Girl Muskateer
Joined: 08 Feb 2002
Posts: 2916
Location: Leicester UK
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 Tue May 18, 2004 1:03 pm Man Escapes Jail For Swinging His Daughter |
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Source: Leicester Mercury
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A man who swung a baby like a rag doll has escaped a jail sentence because of his mental condition.
Footage of the terrified one-year-old girl being snatched off a sofa and swung around was shown at an earlier hearing.
The infant's screams and cries were ignored by Jamie Ian Thompson (2 , formerly of Clifford Street, South Wigston, who meted out the punishment three times.
The child's mother - who secretly video recorded the incident - today criticised the sentencing of Thompson to a two-year community rehabilitation order as "far too lenient".
She said: "I feel let down after everyone seeing what happened in court. I really didn't think he'd be let off so lightly.''
Thompson was caught on video when the mother left him to look after the child for five minutes. He had no idea he was being filmed.
The child showed signs of fear and began to cry as soon as Thompson entered the room.
Leicester Crown Court was told that Thompson, a post office security guard, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder at the time he terrified the child, following an armed robbery at work in 1999, when a raider threatened to chop off his head with an axe.
Thompson pleaded guilty to child cruelty on September 14.
He has since been the victim of a second robbery, at gunpoint, and has been on sick leave since February.
The sentence included a condition he receive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Judge Michael Stokes QC said that but for his mental condition Thompson would have been jailed.
The mother said her daughter, now two, had suffered from nightmares and hair loss.
She said: "The nightmares are subsiding, but she's still very aware of her surroundings and very apprehensive around strangers. She's withdrawn, but I hope she'll grow out of it."
Passing sentence, Judge Stokes said: "What you did to this child was appalling.
"My one concern is that I'm not fully satisfied you acknowledge the gravity of what you did.
"At first you denied you did anything that amounted to an assault or mistreatment.
"You only had to look at the video to see that very substantial cruelty was being administered.
"That child was absolutely terrified and the damage you may have done is incalculable. I want it to absolutely plain that anyone who behaves like this towards an innocent child cannot complain if they received a prison sentence."
However, he said he had read a consultant forensic psychiatrist's report which acknowledged a serious case of post-traumatic stress disorder.
At an earlier hearing, James Varley, defending, said: "His illness allows him to function normally until a trigger point, in this case crying". |
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Paul Marshall
Rear Admiral
Joined: 30 Aug 2002
Posts: 2976
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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| Tue May 18, 2004 1:41 pm |
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I totally agree with the judge's decision, he sounds like a seriously disturbed man.
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Kate Janeway
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Mar 2002
Posts: 4120
Location: Texas
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| Tue May 18, 2004 6:23 pm |
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But why wasn't he being treated for PTS in the first place?
-------signature-------
I like children. If they're properly cooked.
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Paul Marshall
Rear Admiral
Joined: 30 Aug 2002
Posts: 2976
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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| Tue May 18, 2004 10:33 pm |
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^Well you know how people think, they have to have a huge incident before it phases anyone. 
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