A nurse was convicted today of force feeding her 10-month-old baby girl through the spout of a jug until she choked to death.Or the first actually discovered and prosecuted?
It is thought to be the first force feeding baby death in Britain.
The mother can be named as Gloria Dwomoh, 31, after the judge lifted a court order to protect her anonymity… The father of the baby, who cannot be identified, was cleared of the same charge.Odd, why should he too not be named, despite his acquittal? Is it because he has other children, with other women?
And anyone wondering why this case evokes the shade of Victoria Climbié, look no further:
St Thomas' Hospital nurse Dwomoh, of Waltham Forest, had been warned about her feeding method by doctors and social services but insisted it was safe and totally acceptable in her home country of Ghana.And so, despite this startling lack of perception on the part of a nurse, the SS immediately backed off.
‘Oooooh, no, not touching this one, we might get accused of failing to respect her culture!’.
Andrew Edis, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the spout of the jug was placed into the baby's mouth to prevent her from closing it. "The mother was a nurse who ought to have an extra degree of insight," said the QC.I bet Andrew hasn’t been in many NHS hospitals lately, or he’d know why that sentence is grimly unfunny…
Of course, they’ve already held the
The serious case review of the Baby Diamond tragedy has made 18 key finding and identified failings in agencies which dealt with the family and areas which needed immediate improvement.And pretty much every one of them is remarkably similar to the ‘lessons learned’ (supposedly) in both the Climbié and Baby Peter cases…
"Significant shortcomings" in child protection enquiries by staff from an Islington hospital, Waltham Forest children's social care and the Met Police's child abuse investigation team.Check!
Weaknesses in agencies' recording systems including the lack of "alert" systems and case summary in GP records and shortcomings in the transfer to electronic records.Check!
"Concern" about the GP's role and ability to provide a holistic assessment. Social workers were inexperienced in dealing with force feeding.Che…
Wait. What? Why should ‘inexperience’ in the particular form of abuse matter?
They had difficulty in understanding Diamond's father's English.Oh, FFS..!!!
There must be a co-ordinated response from health practitioners, including sharing information, collective analysis and decision making.Yeah, I’m getting that déjà vu sense again…
Using family as interpreters in child protection inquiries should be avoided.…
No s**t, Sherlock!
Still, we can no doubt look forward to the inevitable excuses about social workers terrified of interfering in ‘immigrant cultural norms’, the inevitable uselessness and unworkability of these recommendations and – should anyone actually get the sack, which is pretty unlikely – their appearance in a newspaper whinging about being a scapegoat.
I wonder which idiot Tory is lining up to be 2011’s Ed Balls in this unsavoury affair?
Another furriner thinking they are still in some remote place where they can do what they want because no one cares?
ReplyDeleteNo, wait, it's Waltham Forest... so , yes, no one cares.
If a method of feeding that can kill a child is perfectly acceptable in her home country of Ghana, why doesn't she go back there ?
ReplyDeleteI've spent a lot of time in Accra over the years and never witnessed this method of feeding kids first hand, but if she says it is normal, then it must be ...
`including sharing information, collective analysis and decision making.`
ReplyDeleteas if....SNORK
""Concern" about the GP's role and ability to provide a holistic assessment"
ReplyDeletePerchance because the GP studied medicine (perhaps even in the UK) and not 'holistism'...whatever that is? A GP's job is to treat patient's medical complaints not be a social worker.
Sure a GP should notify the relevant authority if he encounters evidence of a crime (Child abuse etc) but why do we expect him to provide 'holistic' assessments ?
I'll line up for the excuse about being scared to be accused of racism.
ReplyDeleteBear in mind that Mrs Jena Mason, the golly case in Worlingham, was arrested on a Sunday night - not invited to attend an interview by appointment - and immediately was suspended from her job at the hospital on the mere accusation of racism based on putting a dolly in a window.
The arrest - no charge - was enough to damage her. Mason doesn't rely on the hospital for her career; imagine how terrifying it must be if you are.
"insisted it was safe and totally acceptable in her home country of Ghana."
ReplyDeleteLooking at her picture I can believe that....fat evil nigger bitch. Hope she gets life but I somehow doubt it.
Polly Toynbee is probably tapping away at her keyboard at this very minute lamenting a lack of resources, blaming the proposed NHS reforms and cuts by the evil Tories.
ReplyDeleteBTW, earlier in the year a jury acquited Mark Bruton-Smith of the murder of his child.
ReplyDeleteThere never was any evidence against him; he was just very unlucky and happened to be depressed. His own depression was used to suggest he 'might' have done something. I've no idea why the case was brought.
Being white, middle-class (he's an architect), and retaining the support of his heartbroken wife who had no reason to doubt him, he was identified from the beginning.
There is only one key failing in every single case of child death where an authority knew what was going on and the child died anyway.
ReplyDeleteThat is that nobody...nobody at all, at any time, ever...STOPPED IT.
Now...address *THAT*.
Another deeply shitty exercise in fudging and shifting blame.
ReplyDelete"Using family as interpreters in child protection inquiries should be avoided."
ReplyDelete- meaning that the taxpayer will have to fork out even more for interpreters provided at huge expense through an agency, many of whom will not be up to the job either.
Aaargh. Is there somewhere where I can scream?
"many of whom will not be up to the job either. "
ReplyDeleteNot only that but interpreters of african regional dialects and languages tend IME to be members of the COMMUNITY and be as biased and as un-impartial as the people under investigation.
There probably aren't that many Brits who read 'Minor Ghanaian Dialects and Applied Feminist Theology' at Ox-wastrel-bridge....although I stand to be corrected.
We hear of cases in London where the kids at a single school have 100+ first languages. Some will be languages with tiny speaker communities. And there will, of course, be at least as many cultures for social workers to be educated about. But never mind, mass immigration enriches us all, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteTalking of which, even the BBC gets worried when it comes to kids being imported so that witch doctors can use their blood: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15280776
Indeed, SBC: with so many obscure African dialects being spoken in London elsewhere, publc sector interpreting - where it's even possible - has become a racket aimed at creating work for wogs.
ReplyDeleteJust a small point here. For all the BS about multiagency work...clear lines of communication...best practice guidelines...culturally sensitive...alert systems...holistic working..leopardskin accessories etc etc, something is being missed which crosses culture, class and language. PLEASE DON'T KILL YOUR CHILDREN. If it's not too much trouble.
ReplyDeleteSimple enough for ya?
That is all.
"I've spent a lot of time in Accra over the years and never witnessed this method of feeding kids first hand..."
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the mortality rate is for this over there?
"Perchance because the GP studied medicine (perhaps even in the UK) and not 'holistism'...whatever that is? A GP's job is to treat patient's medical complaints not be a social worker."
Once. No more. Hell, since social workers aren't being social workers any more, why not?
" Mason doesn't rely on the hospital for her career; imagine how terrifying it must be if you are."
And that's how Stalinism worked...
"Polly Toynbee is probably tapping away at her keyboard at this very minute lamenting a lack of resources, blaming the proposed NHS reforms and cuts by the evil Tories."
Oh, I'm eagerly awaiting the inevitable CiF columns!
"Being white, middle-class (he's an architect), and retaining the support of his heartbroken wife who had no reason to doubt him, he was identified from the beginning."
ReplyDeleteQuite!
"We hear of cases in London where the kids at a single school have 100+ first languages. Some will be languages with tiny speaker communities. "
Yup, I can fully believe it's a concern. But the fact that no-one considered the implications of not obtaining a third-party interpreter...
Uh, surely it's the baby who "can't be identified", rather than the father?
ReplyDeleteI know that in these days of comprehensive education grammar is usually ignored and you have to try to work out what people thought they were trying to say.
But I think this is the only translation that makes any sense.
No, no.
ReplyDeleteThe baby was identified (as 'Diamond') although in a picture on the wall of a 'Mail' photo, other children's identities were blurred out.
The father's name appears absolutely nowhere in any news article about this case. It's definitely him.