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Toronto Sun

Burned girl despite pleas

BUT LAWYER WANTS MOM TO GO HOME

By TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO THE TORONTO SUN, May 11, 2004

A LITTLE girl would have screamed in agony and begged for mercy as her mother burned her flesh with a hot utensil that she heated on the stove, a Crown attorney told a Newmarket court yesterday. "But instead of mercy, this mother re-heats the spoon to burn again and again," said Michael Demczur in his closing arguments in a case where a 42-year-old mother burned her 8-year-old daughter dozens of times between her.

Court heard the mother did it because the child was acting out in school by bullying and showing her bare chest to the boys in March 2003. She pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and aggravated assault.

"It boggles the mind," said Demczur who wants a jail sentence to send a message to society.

A former school teacher in the mother's home country of Iran testified burning the flesh of disobedient children is an accepted punishment in lower classes of third world countries.

In court, the mother sat stoned-faced as her lawyer, Darren Sederoff, asked the judge to let her serve a conditional sentence in her home.

"Her only intent was to help the child -- throwing her in jail will not help this family," he said, noting the Children's Aid Society plans to slowly re-integrate the mother back into her home with her husband and two children.

Justice Peter Tetley will make his decision May 28.

Associated Press logo

Woman convicted of killing 3 kids after custody battle

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, USA, August 26, 2008

HELSINKI, Finland - A court in Finland has convicted a woman of murdering her three young children and has given her a life sentence.

The Espoo District Court says Thai-born Yu-Hsiu Fu was found guilty of strangling her 8-year-old twin daughters and 1-year-old son in her home.

She tried to kill herself afterward.

The verdict on Tuesday says the 41-year-old woman was found to be of sound mind at the time of the murders.

Court papers show the murders were preceded by a bitter custody battle with her Finnish husband who was living separately from her at the time of the murders.

A life sentence in Finland mean convicts usually serve at least 11 years in prison.

American Psychological Association

American Psychological Association
Dating Violence Statistics in the United States

Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.

Teen depression on the increase in U.K.- teen suicide statistics

Teen depression on the increase

More and More teens are becoming depressed. The numbers of young people suffering from depression in the last 10 years has risen worryingly, an expert says.

BBC, UK, August 3, 2004

Government statistics suggest one in eight adolescents now has depression.

Unless doctors recognise the problem, Read More ..uld slip through the net, says Professor Tim Kendall of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.

Guidelines on treating childhood depression will be published next year. Professor Kendall says a lot Read More ..eds to be done to treat the illness.