DRUG MUM HAD A CHOICE

I AM appalled by the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal which saw a
35-year-old woman released from prison because her children were not able
to cope (report, 14/4). References were made to the possible future of her
children as a consequence of not having their mum at home.

A tragic situation, indeed, and my heartfelt feelings go out to all,
including the father whose addiction allegedly triggered the situation.
However, I cannot ignore the grief and pain, the suffering and despair of
those children whose lives have been ruined by the effect of drugs, such as
the one the woman attempted to procure.

I grieve for the families of those children as I think of them gathered
around the coffin that contains the body of their teenage son or daughter.

The woman made a decision, as an adult, to commit a crime for which
penalties apply. She, no doubt, was aware of those penalties. She chose to
put the lives of her children in a dangerous position.

Your report included references to the possibility of her children turning
to crime. Perhaps Chief Justice David Malcolm and his friends should take
time to read the sickening crime statistics that are directly related to
drugs as other people's children steal to buy illicit drugs from people
like the woman in the report.

Thanks be to God that there will be a day of reckoning when the decisions
made by these men of "justice" will be brought to account. I hope they
repent before that day.

PATRICK GROGAN,

Kelmscott.