FILICIDE (charged): Wales: Jury finds Yvonne Freaney not guilty of son's murder

Liz Keen and Daniel Fisher, May 27 2011

A MOTHER who killed her severely disabled son as she fled from an abusive marriage showed no emotion as a jury found her not guilty of his murder.

Yvonne Freaney, 49, who was homeless after eventually walking out on a violent husband, had always admitted strangling 11-year-old Glen to death in a rented hotel room.
Her defence team said she did it while suffering from an abnormality of mind while under stress, suicidal and suffering from a personality disorder.
Defence barrister John Charles Rees QC told the jurors: “She was a battered wife but her way of solving her problem wasn’t to kill Mr Freaney but to kill herself and their son.”

She told police officers who found the child’s body, surrounded by his favourite soft toys at the Sky Plaza Hotel in Rhoose, last year: “I had to do it – no one else could look after him.
“My husband wouldn’t have been able to cope and it would have been cruel to leave him behind.
“I put him to sleep, put his toys around and started cutting myself.”
She said she had killed Glen, a pupil of Ashgrove School in Penarth where staff said she was a devoted and caring mother, 36 hours before the officers arrived.

“I’ve sent him to the Kingdom of Heaven” she told them. “My only regret is that I couldn’t end my life – my blood kept on clotting.”
As she was being taken back down to the cells yesterday, Freaney paused and leaned over the back of the dock, to plant kisses from her hand gently onto to the heads of her two grown-up children, who had rushed from the public gallery to embrace her.
The court heard how Glen, who couldn’t be properly toilet trained but who loved to ride his bike and play on the swings, died some time between May 12 and 16 last year.
Even the prosecution, in bringing a charge of murder, accepted she was a woman who had devoted herself to the full-time care of the youngest of her four children.
“He could not be left alone for a minute,” prosecutor Gregg Taylor QC told the jury. “He could walk and run in special boots made for him but had no awareness of danger and would rush to look at cars and fire engines. He would have needed supervision for the rest of his life.”
Freaney herself did not give evidence but the trial heard of her state of mind and the stresses in her life through a series of texts messages between her, husband Mark and daughter Carla, 22, and in letters she left at the RAFA club in Penarth, where her husband was chairman and where she agreed, at his request, to become treasurer and sort out the books, which were in a mess.
Mr Rees said she did it to try to please the husband who had been abusive towards her for years, although it was too much for her and she just couldn’t cope.
In what were meant to be suicide notes left at the club and on the dressing table of her hotel room she spoke of the amount of her time the RAFA took up and alleged her husband gave it more attention than he did his family.
The court heard how the family had to leave their mortgaged home in Salop Street, Penarth, because it was so run-down it was declared uninhabitable.
After a period when they stayed with her daughter, she decided to leave Mr Freaney, also 49, who admitted being violent towards her and spent several weeks before the killing searching for a home for herself and Glen as they lived in a series of local hotels.
Trial judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams told Freaney she was being remanded in custody until sentence is passed in June. Mr Rees said: “The question of her coming back into the community and how that is to be dealt with will have to be considered.”

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/cardiffonline/cardiff-news/2011/05/27/jury-finds-mother-not-guilty-of-son-s-murder-91466-28775441/#ixzz1NqFuTyfI

FILICIDE: Wales: Yvonne Freaney charged with murder of disabled son

May 9 2011

A DEVOTED mother under pressure strangled her young disabled son to death before cutting her own wrists, a jury heard today.

Yvonne Freaney, 49, who survived and was charged with murder, used the belt of her coat to kill 11-year-old Glen, who she had cared for day and night all his life, prosecutor Gregg Taylor QC told Cardiff Crown Court.
At the time, she was said to have been running from a marriage marred by domestic issues and violent arguments which involved police, doctors and hospitals.
She had accused Mark Freaney, the man she married in May 1996, of giving too much of his time to the Penarth Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) club, where he was chairman.

The club, she alleged, always came first.
Glen, who at the age of four had been diagnosed with severe autism, died in a room at the Sky Plaza Hotel in Rhoose in May 2010.
It was one of several hotels he and his mother had moved into after she left her husband two months earlier.
Mr Taylor told the 12 jurors at Cardiff Crown Court, where Freaney admits manslaughter but denies murdering the youngest of her four children from two marriages: “Glen was killed while lying on a bed the their hotel room.
“Then when she was sure he was dead, she lay down beside him and tried to commit suicide by cutting her wrists and making cuts to other places on her arms, her legs and body.
“The defence argument is that you should find her not guilty of murder because at the time she was suffering from such an abnormality of mind as to substantially diminish her responsibility.
“The prosecution does not accept that argument but say this is a case of murder”.
He said psychiatrists would give evidence about “diminished responsibility” but the decision on the charge would be for the jury not for medical experts.
He urged them to approach what is a difficult case, dispassionately, especially as later this week is the first anniversary of the boy’s death.
Freaney, he said, had attempted suicide before, when her first marriage ended in 1984, cutting her wrists so badly she needed plastic surgery.
She told a doctor then that she wanted to kill herself but was afraid to die and admitted she sometimes deliberately worried her then husband with dramatic talk of suicide.
Mr Taylor said: “When she was seen at the University Hospital of Wales on May 16 last year [after Glen’s body had been found], none of her cuts were life-threatening.
“Apart from cleaning and steristrips there was no need for other treatment.
“But as far as the prosecution can tell she appears to have made a serious bid to kill herself – we are not saying she did not want to die”.
He alleged the Freaneys had problems right from 1996 until 2010 revolving around alcohol and episodes of minor violence from both parties.
Her older daughter, who has children of her own, was sometimes a witness at the family home in Salop Street, Penarth which they later had to leave after police and social services declared it so dirty and cluttered, it was uninhabitable.
An older son had left home to study law at university.
Mr Taylor told jurors: “From the time he was born, Yvonne Freaney devoted herself to being Glen’s full time carer. He need constant attention, 24 hours a day and couldn’t be left alone for a minute.
“He was generally fit, with a normal life expectancy but totally dependant for washing, dressing and feeding.
“He was not toilet trained and wore nappies but he could walk – and run – with special boots and was excited by cars and fire engines and would run to look at them with no awareness of danger.”
He described Glen as a happy boy, who attended Ashgrove specialist school, where teachers observed how devoted and caring his mother was towards him, as later would hotel staff.
But in the weeks before his died, he was hardly at school at all.
And at the same time, Freaney was said to have been under pressure in her role at the RAFA club, where she had agreed to become treasurer, when they were having problems in 2009.
“She always did the weekly pay for the staff but it was simply too much,” Mr Taylor said.
“In the months leading up to March 2010 she just wasn’t coping.
“She complained the RAFA always came first with Mark and that he did not love her and in fact he hated her.
The court heard of a serious of text messages between her, her family and the club as she moved with Glen from one hotel to another and of letters eventually found in the treasurer’s locker at the club.
One letter was to a club committee member telling him, “Every hour of every day it’s been the RAFA – the first words in the morning and the last at night.
“Mark is a good chairman, 200% devoted.
“My marriage was far from perfect but the club put the final nail in the coffin. I’m a broken person who can’t go on”.
To one of her children, she wrote: “Just think of it as me finally being at rest.
“Remember, although I’m not there, I love you .... Mummy.”
The case continues.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/05/09/devoted-mother-strangled-disabled-son-before-cutting-her-wrists-court-told-91466-28662318/

FILICIDE (attempted): Quebec: Good Samaritan prevented murder-suicide involving mother, 2 kids

April 13, 2011

 MONTREAL — A fast-thinking Good Samaritan is being credited with coming to the rescue when a woman in her 30s plunged into a Quebec river Friday night with her two children.

Montreal police say it appears the woman planned to kill herself and the little ones, ages five years and two months, when they entered the water at the Bassin des Pecheurs.

All three remain in hospital in critical condition. Their rescuer, a man in his 20s, was taken to hospital for observation but is said to be in good condition.

"The hypothesis we're working on is of an attempted murder, followed by a suicide attempt," said Montreal police official Raphael Bergeron.

"All the information we've gathered would indicate that the woman slipped herself into the water, bringing her two children with her.

"It's lucky that a Good Samaritan came to their aid."

One witness said the five-year-old boy appeared to have been tied to his mother with a scarf.

Police will be questioning the father of the children to see if he can shed any clues on the woman's state of mind.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Good+Samaritan+prevented+murder+suicide+involving+mother+kids+Montreal+police/4589364/story.html#ixzz1JntrwfFW

FETICIDE: Indiana: Bei Bei Shuai took poison in suicide attempt

March 16 2011
A woman who admitted to authorities that she ingested rat poison when she was 33 weeks pregnant, resulting in the death of her child days after birth, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder and attempted feticide as her attorney lashed out at prosecutors.

Bei Bei Shuai, 34, is from China but has been living in the United States for about 10 years.

Angel Shuai was born alive on Dec. 31 but died on Jan. 3, suffering from a brain hemorrhage because her mother took the poison, investigators said
Shuai told police that she wanted to kill herself after her boyfriend left her.

Shuai's attorney, Linda Pence, said the case shouldn't have been filed and that she will be vigorously defended.

"Charges against pregnant women are wrong. In every jurisdiction that has looked at this but one … courts have tossed this out," Pence said. "Prosecuting women that were pregnant is bad for babies. These kind of prosecutions … make women afraid to come forth for health reasons and other reasons. Babies die when you prosecute women. I can't believe this office decided to file this."

A similar case has never been brought in Indiana courts, though Shuai's defense team said there is case law from other states.

"The mother controls her body. The mother has a right to live. This is not the place to address these horrid kinds of situations," Pence said. "Criminal justice is not the place where you take care of these things."

Dave Rimstidt, Marion County chief trial deputy, said careful consideration was given before charging Shuai.

"This is a very unique case," Rimstidt said. "Every charging decision is very difficult and goes through a process where we consider all the facts, all the circumstances, and under this situation, we believe we've charged the two charges we can prove."

Shuai's defense team is also getting help from a legal defense group called the National Advocates For Pregnant Women.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/27215238/detail.html

FETICIDE: Indiana: Bei Bei Shuai eats poison, is charged with murder after baby dies, Ind. cops say

Carlin DeGuerin Miller
CBS/AP) INDIANAPOLIS - A pregnant Indiana woman who allegedly tried to commit suicide by eating rat poison last December is being charged with murder and feticide after the baby died a few days later, according to police.
  Bei Bei Shuai (Credit: WISH)


Indianapolis police Officer Catherine Cummings said Tuesday that detectives arrested 34-year-old old Bei Bei Shuai, who surrendered Monday with help from her lawyer.

Shuai's attorney, Linda Pence, said the charges are not only unwarranted, but they could prevent other troubled mothers from seeking the help they need, according to the Indianapolis Star Tribune.

David Rimstidt, chief deputy to Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, said the case was unique but the charges were appropriate given the facts, the paper reported.

Police say Shuai told friends in Anderson that she swallowed rat poison on Dec. 23. The friends took her to a hospital in Anderson, and she was transferred to a hospital in Indianapolis, where she gave birth Dec. 31. Angel Shuai died Jan. 2.

Shuai is currently being held without bond, but Pence told the Star Tribune she plans to ask the judge to dismiss the charges and allow her client to bond out.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20044603-504083.html

FILICIDE: New York: Migdalia Veras

8th March 2011

The mother who allegedly stabbed her disabled son to death with a foot-long knife told police that he begged her for months to kill him.
Migdalia Veras, 57, from New York, allegedly told detectives that her son Rene, 39, wanted to die as he was afraid that he would be left alone to battle cerebral palsy if she died first.
Veras is said to have stabbed her son in the stomach last week before turning the knife on herself in a botched suicide attempt at their housing authority apartment in Queens.

Statement: Veras made the confession to police from her hospital bed in New York Hospital Medical Centre where she was taken after she stabbed herself in the chest

Stabbed: 38-year-old Rene Vera was wheelchair-bound because of his cerebral palsy. His mother told police he begged her to kill him

HOW CEREBRAL PALSY TAKES ITS TOLL

Around 2-3 of the 1,000 children born in the U.S. each year has cerebral palsy.
It is caused by damage to the developing brain before or during birth.
There are several different types, but the most common is spastic cerebral palsy in which the body's muscles are stiff or weak.
In dyskinetic cerebral palsy, sufferers struggle to control their muscles and may have difficulty speaking.
It ranges in severity, but some patients struggle to do even the most basic tasks because movement is so restricted.
There is no cure, but the condition does not get worse over time, although adult sufferers can develop more muscle stiffness and arthritis.
It is a common misconception that sufferers have learning difficulties. Many have above average intelligence but struggle to communicate.

Police interviewed her at New York Hospital Medical Centre where she was taken after she stabbed herself in the chest.
Her statement was then piped into Queens Supreme Court via video feed on Monday.
According to the New York Daily News, she told officers from her hospital bed: 'He asked me to kill him.'
She claims that two months ago, they were both sitting on his bed when he first asked her: 'Rene handed me the knife and repeated, "do it".'
Talking about the day he was killed she allegedly said: 'I told him I did not want to do it. He then took the knife and stabbed himself. He then kept begging me not to leave him alone and kept asking me to kill him.
'I then took the knife that was on top of the bed. I picked up the knife and stabbed him in the chest.'
'I then tried to go with my son by cutting my wrists but I could not do it because my hands were shaking.'
Residents at the apartment block the Veras lived in told the Daily News that Rene was unable to communicate and simply smiled at people to acknowledge them.
She is being held without bail on a second-degree murder charge and faces 25 years to life in prison.
The case continues.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1364207/My-son-begged-kill-Mother-confessed-stabbing-disabled-son-death.html?printingPage=true

FILICIDE (multiple, attempted): Ohio:Jacqueline R. Stout

CANTON —

Jacqueline R. Stout didn’t want to die alone when she killed herself, so she drugged her two children, possibly with Kool-Aid laced with prescription pills, authorities say.
Stout and the children survived, and police have charged the 24-year-old mother with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of child endangering.
Canton police Lt. Scott Beard said Stout, of 811 15th St. NE, was arrested Thursday after her release from Mercy Medical Center.
Her children, ages 4 and 6, remain at Akron Children’s Hospital, but are out of intensive care, said Michael Vaccaro, legal counsel for the Stark County Department of Job and Family Services, which has taken emergency temporary custody of the children.
A hearing on the issue of scheduled for today in Stark County Family Court, and Job and Family Services’ court filing provides more details about the incident and the family.

TWO SUICIDE ATTEMPTS
The chain of events leading up to Wednesday’s incident started Monday, when Jacqueline Stout initially attempted suicide, according to the court filing. Her two children stayed with their father, Adam Stout, 25, of Plain Township, until she was released from the hospital on Wednesday.
Adam Stout — who is estranged from Jacqueline — drove her home and left her to care for the children when they got home from school, believing that she seemed all right, according to the court filing.
Adam Stout could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Just before 2 p.m., Stout sent her husband a text message stating that she was suicidal and had just tried to kill his children. He didn’t get the message right away, and Stout followed with a phone call a minute later stating that she had given the children a lot of medication, according to the court filing.
Adam Stout drove to his wife’s home and called 911. The children were sleeping and Jacqueline Stout was on a couch with a knife in her hand and had been cutting her arm, the filing said. All three were lethargic.
Jacqueline Stout was unable to tell hospital staff what medication she had taken or what she had given the children, but she also reported that “she had taken 60 pills of 16 different types of medication,” according to the court filing.
The 6-year-old boy said his mother had given him “more than four” pills that were “red, green and blue,” and had crushed the pills and put them into his Kool-Aid, according to the court filing.
The 4-year-old girl also reported drinking Kool-Aid given by her mother.
Vaccaro said the agency is still looking into the type and amount of medication involved, as well as the manner in which it was given to the children.
On Thursday, police and an investigative caseworker talked to Jacqueline Stout. She told them that she got into an argument with her husband, who told her “that he was leaving and she shouldn’t ever call him again,” according to the court filing.
Stout said she then wanted to kill herself, but didn’t want the children to know, so she gave them medication to make them go to sleep.  “When questioned further, mother admitted that she wanted to kill the children so that they could ‘go with her’ when she died,” according to the court filing.

CHILDREN REMOVED LAST YEAR
This isn’t the family’s first involvement with Job and Family Services. In January 2010, the agency removed the children from the Stout home.
The main concerns in that case involved Adam Stout’s “severe mental health issues,” his attempt to kill himself with prescription medication in 2009 and concerns about violence in the home. They prompted the agency's involvement, according to court records.
The agency placed the children with relatives, but returned them to Jacqueline Stout in May on the condition that the family remain under the protective supervision of Job and Family Services. Adam Stout was no longer living in the home.
During the earlier case, a psychological evaluation revealed no concerns about Jacqueline Stout’s mental health, and didn’t indicate that she was having thoughts of suicide, Vaccaro said.
Stout followed the case plan, accepted the services offered to her and was able to reunite with her children, which is the goal in these types of cases, Vaccaro said.  In December the agency ended its nearly year-long involvement with the family.
The agency had no further contact with the family until Wednesday, and had been unaware of Stout’s suicide attempt earlier in the week, Vaccaro said.

http://www.cantonrep.com/topstories/x1055385606/Canton-mom-charged-with-attempted-murder