Wednesday, September 25, 2019

A UK man received a suspended sentence after killing his mother by pushing her off a balcony.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Direction, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition


Langley Lodge Care Home in Essex UK
Robert Knight, in the UK, plead guilty to manslaughter for killing his mother, June Knight who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

According to the BBC news, Knight was cleared of murder and received a two year suspended sentence for pushing his mother off of the balcony at the care home where she lived. The case referred to as a "mercy killing". The BBC news report stated:

Knight placed his mother on a railing before pushing her to her death on 10 December, Basildon Crown Court heard. 
He was cleared of murder and was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years. 
Sentencing Knight at Basildon Crown Court, Judge Samantha Leigh said: "You are someone who acted out of love and desperation. 
"You have been punished enough and you have to live with what you have done."
She added that it had been a "very sad case" and described it as a "mercy killing".
Caring not killing
Essex Police Detective, Daniel Stoten, told BBC news:

Det Ch Insp Daniel Stoten said the jury had agreed that Knight had suffered a loss of control when he killed his mother. 
He said: "I do not doubt that Robert Knight loved his mother deeply, but his actions were deplorable and they have affected many, many people."
The sentence must be appealed.

I recognize that Alzheimer's is a difficult condition, but a suspended sentence for killing a mother with Alzheimer's offers a green light to others experiencing similar situations. The message to society is that Alzheimer's makes you a second class citizen and that the court will deal leniently when these people are killed.

Everyone deserves to be cared for, not killed.

2 comments:

Concerned said...

This man should be hanged biblically speaking. I can not think that a jury can come to such an unsound decision if one thinks of what a precedent this created-it leaves some people like this persons mother vulnerable to be killed by anybody and then get a sentence like this man got. I think the sentence is criminal in view of the fact what can happen afterwards.

Too-bad-to-be-true said...

If people leave God out of the picture and become their own God, their own law... this is what happens... They don't want God to have a saying in their own life but demand to have a say-so in other people's life... on what grounds???? On the 'I know better what's good for you!' or 'I am better-wiser-more educated-younger-more doctor-(fill in the blank) than you!' - grounds? It blows my mind what people succeed in justifying... I cannot wrap my mind around this... I wish it were too bad to be true...