Should the parent be prosecuted

[Ethel]

For this needless death?
http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/29609

There are plenty of criminal offences to choose from.

[saxy_jag]

This is true. Many years ago my uncle, then a lorry driver, had an elderly gent step off a kerb into the path of his lorry. Although the only injury that the man sustained was a broken arm, the resulting hospitalisation and subsequent trauma led to the old man's death a couple of weeks later.

Naturally, there was a full police investigation, the result of which was my uncle's complete exoneration. In fact, the deceased's daughter wrote to my uncle to say that she did not blame him and that he shouldn't blame himself. Her father had had several near misses in similar circumstances, she said, and the tragedy had been somewhat inevitable.

My uncle never talks about it these days and it's not a subject I'll raise, but I have no doubt he's still carried some guilt around for all these years.

[saxy_jag]

Sorry. The above post wasn't clear. I was responding to Bob's comment on the previous page.

[saxy_jag]

Oh jeez! I've lost it! I meant Littleoldme. I'm going back to bed.

[saxy_jag]

I've spend a good deal my adult life around bikers of all types. When these people have kids, they are naturally going to encourage them to follow their interests. I've met loads of kids who ride quads, scramble bikes, go carts - you name it - with no problems. The difference is that parents in this case are aware of the dangers. Kids are taught properly, steadily, and are taught to have respect for these machines. At competitive events and rallies, safety is paramount - if a kid doesn't have the right protective gear, or if they break the basic safety rules (like messing about in the paddock, for instance, or bad racing practice) he or she doesn't take part. Period.

What results is a healthy, family social activity where kids are valued and included. Most of them grow up to become safe and sensible road users because they know what happens if you ignore the rules. It's people like those involved here and in the cases Katie and Legend cite that bring the weight of the 'too dangerous' brigade down onto those trying to do this the correct, safe way. That happens and we all suffer.

[Katie~77]

Legend, I can assure you that my in-laws are not chavs and they certainly don't live in a rough area. They just have no common sense whatsoever!x

[anotheoldgit]

Leaving a Child alone in a foreign country while the parents go for a meal, and the Child is abducted, most likely dead.

Allowing a Child to ride a Quad Bike on a public road, and she is killed. The outcome is the same, the parents will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

So I agree with China Doll on this one, imprisoning the parents cannot make it any worse for them, they will be suffering much, much more than a prison sentence can make them suffer.

[NikkiB]

Saxy Jag - there was a similar incident in my family a few years back although fortunately a death was avoided.

My cousin, in her twenties and a good driver, was going down a 30mph street at night and two young children ran out in front of her. My cousin swerved, hit a tree and was badly shaken. The children, both under 8, were unharmed. The police completely exonerated my cousin of any blame but it didn't stop the sensationalist local paper headlines of "Sister saves little girl in mercy dash" regarding the oldest child pulling her younger sibling to safety plus the typical "relieved mother" spiel etc. No-one appeared to ask why the children were out alone a mile from their home and where their parents were at the time.

[its_me_baby]

the family are gonna live with the guilt of knowing there daughters death could have been prevented somehow.

[bundleone]

As awful as it is that they have lost their child through their own stupidity they still have two other children who could be at risk from such neglegtful parents, I think they should be prosecuted but not imprisoned, they still deserve to have a criminal record.

[Goodsoulette]

Not much more you can do to punish these parents than the death of their child. How terribly sad. Hopefully a lesson will have been learnt from this to others that have quad bikes. The whole story stinks of stupidity and I really feel for the driver of the land rover.

Plenty of people round here have quad bikes in the countryside. It's not essentially a chav thing.