Woman Drowns Her Newborn In Sink To Take College Exam
Imagine if a man did this to his newborn son. Do you think a judge would let him off with a couple of years of probation -- or throw away the key...for quite some time or forever?
A British Columbia mother who drowned her newborn son at home before taking a college exam was sentenced to two years probation, reports Tim Petruk in the Canadian National Post:
Courtney Saul, 19, was sentenced to two years' probation in provincial court in Kamloops, B.C.Saul was a student at Thompson Rivers University when her baby, George Carlos, was born on Dec. 15, 2011.
Court heard Saul gave birth alone in the bathroom of a basement suite where she was living.
"She held the baby for some time, but she had an exam that day," Crown lawyer Will Burrows said. "Because she had the exam, she didn't know what to do. She finally decided she should drown the baby. She did that in the sink and then she went to her exam."
Afterwards, Saul wrapped the baby's body in a T-shirt and a shower curtain and placed it in an empty computer box. She put the box inside a backpack, which she placed in the trunk of her car.
Saul would later tell investigators she hoped to bury the baby in her hometown of Lillooet.
The body was discovered three weeks later, when she loaned her car to an acquaintance, who was involved in a collision.
Firefighters opened the trunk to cut power as a safety precaution. A police officer noticed a backpack in the trunk and opened it, revealing a computer box with an odd bulge. He opened the box and found the baby's body.
...Defence lawyer Murray Armstrong noted the circumstances.
"This is certainly a tragedy in all senses of the word," he said, adding Saul remains troubled by the events but is moving forward.
"Nothing is going to change what happened, but certainly now Ms. Saul is not a risk to anybody," he said. "In terms of punishment, there's no punishment greater than the guilt and remorse she feels."
This is a young woman who murdered a totally defenseless little human being, simply because it was more convenient and because she thought nobody would find out.
I would say that this is a level of sociopathy that makes her a danger to plenty; also, this tells other young woman that they can get off pretty cheaply for killing their infants if they just do a little boohoo afterward.
UPDATE: A tweet from evolutionary psychologist Diana S. Fleischman:
@sentientist
.@amyalkon Infanticide may be most common homicide-tends to be less penalized-excerpts from Homicide Daly & Wilson
That's Martin Daly and the late Margo Wilson. A paper on the subject by Susan Hatters Friedman and Phillip J. Resnick.
Diana adds:
@sentientist
@Sevens_2 @amyalkon Daly & Wilson make the case that "maternal instinct" may involve killing a baby now to have a baby during a better time
There's also non-human primate expert Sarah Hrdy's observations -- from a Discover piece by Claudia Glenn Dowling:
Motherhood has been of consuming interest to Hrdy (rhymes with birdie) for years now. Her theories about why mothers--as well as fathers--behave as they do brought her scorn, and then respect, as one of the most radical evolutionary thinkers of our day. In her most recent book, Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and How They Shape the Human Species, she demonstrated that mothers may abort, abandon, or even kill offspring they do not have the resources to rear. Her assertion that infanticide is common to species across the animal kingdom shook biology, especially when she applied her theories to Homo sapiens. Her feminist reinterpretation of evolutionary theory, as well as data, challenges the archetype of "the good mother," a natural Madonna, and replaces her with a more complex female figure--ambitious, calculating, nurturing, selfish, loving, sexually assertive. The Ridgeback's behavior, which saddened Hrdy, "was a kind of confirmation," she says.
But don't those of you reading here commit the "is"/"ought" fallacy -- making the leap that because researchers have a finding that they condone the behavior; that they think that this is what "should" be. It's simply a finding they've made about how some or many people may tend to behave.
via @socialtheorycan
Oh, Amy. Don't you realize this was just a fourth-trimester abortion? Why are you against letting women control their own bodies?
Art Metz at December 2, 2016 5:50 AM
Unfortunately Art there's a sliver of truth in your comment.
Girls are being taught that it's "their choice" so there will be some that do not have the maturity to handle a pregnancy and that they have a "choice".
Not surprising. Just follow the dots.
Bob in Texas at December 2, 2016 6:04 AM
Horrific, and she should be in prison for life. It's no less horrific before birth, when its saline or KCL.
"Saul remains troubled by the events but is moving forward." sounds a lot like "she made the best choice for her". Selfishness and disregard of the new life created has been going mainstream for decades. This is the logical and foreseeable end result. She simply acted sooner than Casey Anthony, but it is no different. (who, of course, also got off scot free for killing her kid. We don't see kids as people, sadly).
momof4 at December 2, 2016 6:04 AM
I am guessing they pled insanity or something. Post partum depression or the like. The fact that she didn't go to the hospital suggests something was off
Nicolek at December 2, 2016 7:56 AM
While I am not as aware of Canadian law as American, couldn't a lawyer have gotten the body thrown out?
After all, what right did the cop have to rummage thru a closed box, inside a closed bag, inside a locked trunk that was only opened so emergency personnel could preform a rescue?
lujlp at December 2, 2016 8:22 AM
Just call it a retroactive abortion and then it's the woman's right to choose.
Conan hte Grammarian at December 2, 2016 8:27 AM
Let the anti-abortion virtue signaling begin.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 2, 2016 9:11 AM
Good thing she didn't lock a dog in the trunk…
Radwaste at December 2, 2016 10:13 AM
I know its your blog but could you throw up another link so I don't have to see a headline on infanticide every time I come here. I would love to purchase something on Amazon through your site at this moment, if you know what I mean ;)
Thanks.
Shtetl G at December 2, 2016 10:23 AM
"The fact that she didn't go to the hospital suggests something was off"
I think the fact she killed her baby was a lot more than a fucking suggestion that something was off
causticf at December 2, 2016 10:39 AM
Imagine if a man did this to his newborn son. Do you think a judge would let him off with a couple of years of probation -- or throw away the key...for quite some time or forever?
I don't know; "I forgot the kid was in the back seat" seems to be a Get Out of Jail Free card in most cases.
The major exception, of course, is with babysitters and day care providers. We brook no excuses with them.
Kevin at December 2, 2016 10:47 AM
Bingo, Kevin.
The only time fathers seem to get convicted for hot-car cases is when there's evidence to suggest he was planning it - as in the recent case of Justin Ross Harris, in Georgia, that's been all over Bratfree. (But, in fairness, at least one unconnected prosecutor doesn't agree with the verdict - he wrote an article: "Here’s Why the Justin Ross Harris Guilty Verdict is Absolutely Bananas.")
And it's outrageous how widely the justice system might define "babysitter" - as in the case of Susan Newkirk:
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2016/09/29/linkety_4.html
lenona at December 2, 2016 11:32 AM
I forgot to hit post this morning after I inserted the Sarah Hrdy stuff. Oops. Just noticed that now -- posting.
Amy Alkon at December 2, 2016 1:17 PM
"After all, what right did the cop have to rummage thru a closed box, inside a closed bag, inside a locked trunk that was only opened so emergency personnel could preform a rescue? "
The baby was dead three weeks by then...maybe they could smell decomposition?
crella at December 2, 2016 5:03 PM
My all-time favorite blog post for Hrdy.
It's wipe the smirk off your face so fast...
Crid at December 2, 2016 5:23 PM
> I would love to purchase something
> on Amazon through your site at
> this moment, if you know what I
> mean ;)
What does he mean?
Crid at December 2, 2016 7:43 PM
I cannot blame the judge for giving her leniency. This is just a retroactive abortion.
mpetrie98 at December 3, 2016 11:44 AM
See also Cosh.
Crid at December 3, 2016 4:07 PM
Ms Saul could have had an abortion the day before the exam in some places in the U.S. Maybe in Canada too, for free even, but there's probably a 10 month waiting list.
Ken R at December 3, 2016 4:16 PM
Interesting article.
Of course I'd love to see what a world with a 20 to 1 female to male ratio looks like
Imagine women being forced to do all the back breaking labor because men are so rare all they can do is live lives of comfort and fuck.
I find it funny that the logical end result of sooo many leftist polices is an increase in toil and labor from those they purport to help
lujlp at December 4, 2016 12:35 AM
Leave a comment