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Let's talk about filicide.
And starving 4 year old girls with #DownSyndrome to death.
And the fact that the Australian disability rights movement and communities are in deep grieving right now for our people, killed by caregivers.
But - let's talk about filicide. And Willow.
And starving 4 year old girls with #DownSyndrome to death.
And the fact that the Australian disability rights movement and communities are in deep grieving right now for our people, killed by caregivers.
But - let's talk about filicide. And Willow.
2/ In the wake of a woman throwing her autistic son into a canal last week (& blaming his disappearance on 'two black men', Australia has been shaken by two of the filthiest hate crimes you can imagine. One was against Ann-Marie Smith. But the other - it was against Willow Dunn.
3/ Willow's mother died in childbirth. She was only four years old when her father allegedly starved her to death - other children and two more adults, her stepmother and stepsister, were also in the house.
It was opposite an Anglican primary school. https://7news.com.au/news/qld/police-probe-whether-brisbane-girl-four-starved-to-death-in-alleged-murder-by-father-c-1061037
It was opposite an Anglican primary school. https://7news.com.au/news/qld/police-probe-whether-brisbane-girl-four-starved-to-death-in-alleged-murder-by-father-c-1061037
4/ Am I horrified? Yes, like the rest of our community, like the rest of Australia. Am I surprised? No, because this happens often. And when it does, our deaths are blamed on our disabilities, not the murdering fucks who kill us.
This was Ebony. https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-anne-manne-ebony-girl-room-2248
This was Ebony. https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-anne-manne-ebony-girl-room-2248
5/ Her real name wasn't Ebony. She was seven when she died in 2007. She died like Willow. Her parents starved her to death. Mum will be out in 27 years. http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2013/103.html?context=1;query=hawks%20nest%20;mask_path=+au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA Stepdad is potentially out now. http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2011/176.html?context=1;query=hawks%20nest%20;mask_path=+au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA And the system? https://www.ombo.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/3360/Special-Report-Death-of-Ebony-Oct-2009.pdf Ha.
6/ How many other disabled girls and women have died? In South Australia, there's the case of Kyla Puhle. It's interesting that if your parents kill you and they're drug addicted losers, they'll get thirty years. But if not if you're well off and respectable.
7/ Kyla's dad shot himself when arrested. She was older than Willow and Ebony - Kyla was 27. She starved to death in a beanbag at home after her parents withdrew her from her services. Not only did Angela walk free, she was described as a 'devoted' mother. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-22/mother-spared-jail-over-malnutrition-manslaughter/4905964
8/ What the fuck are we doing, Australia? That woman walks free and in this excellent piece by @sarahdingle_, you can hear the judge who let the mother walk free justify his actions by saying that a disabled child could not bring parents as much love. https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/carers-who-kill/9889508
9/ Here's something for y'all. Nineteen days before Kyla died in 2011, this 14 year old girl was found dead in HER beanbag - she weighed the same as Kyla did when they found her body, 12 kilos. Makayla Norman also died of malnutrition, had pressure sores. But ppl were CHARGED.
10/ I know all their faces, their names, their stories. They haunt my sleep, the dead children. Tonight, Willow will join them.
Fletcher Hunt, aged 10, who had ADHD, like me. Shot by his dad in 2014, along with his mum Kim, who was also disabled. The Coroner blamed her, mostly.
Fletcher Hunt, aged 10, who had ADHD, like me. Shot by his dad in 2014, along with his mum Kim, who was also disabled. The Coroner blamed her, mostly.
11/ Daniel Thomas, who was only three. He was tortured for a long time before he was killed but there wasn't enough evidence, they said, to lay charges. Dogs found his bones under a Victorian house in 2003. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/cackling-babysitter-mandy-martyn-denies-killing-toddler-daniel-thomas-gives-reporters-a-spray/news-story/4eb7baa1ecc74fe21c54744cec504dcf I wonder what would have happened if he was white.
12/ Jason Dawes, who was autistic and whose mother Daniela suffocated him when he was ten years old. His mother walked free from court and into a paid interview. https://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s1121503.htm https://www.smh.com.au/national/when-love-is-not-enough-20040601-gdj1bc.html A later inquest found that the family was given little support.
13/ Gracie Sharpe, murdered by her father four days after he'd killed her mother. He kept shooting the 20 month old in the the head with a spear gun. When she wouldn't die, he went to the other room to pull a spear from her mother's head to use that. https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/people/he-murdered-his-wife-with-a-speargun-4-days-later-he-shot-their-baby-girl/news-story/a8c5798b796c46ca9d3694d00e4fa288
14/ Kate Bugmy, aged 26, who died much in the same way as Kyla did, except without the same level of privilege, equipment and services. That's because she was Aboriginal. Her death was rightly called system failure. She died at the hands of the NSW Govt. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20100826/NSW-bed-sore-death-could-have-been-prevented-Coroner.aspx
15/ I am legally not allowed to say the name 'Isabella Leiper' but fuck that, I WILL. I will keep saying her name til she gets justice. Dead in 2011. She was a nine-year-old with cerebral palsy who was found dead with injuries caused by blunt force trauma to her stomach.
16/ The Coroner paused the inquest when he found that someone was culpable for her death. Isabella's father was arrested in 2014. https://www.9news.com.au/national/nsw-dad-charged-over-disabled-girls-death/8aab254e-baa5-40c1-a525-f65b8c3483ff https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/1424707/isabella-leiper-inquest-suspended/ And then? Well, they couldn't AFFORD the trial. https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/5351433/dispute-over-74-discs-at-heart-of-case-delays-in-disabled-girls-death/ Dead longer than alive, now.
17/ Julian, murdered by his stepfather while his mother listened to him dying in the shed via a baby monitor. Autistic, hosed down in winter, tied to a chair and left to freeze to death in the shed where he spent most nights. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/magician-pleads-guilty-to-unlawful-death-of-autistic-boy-left-to-freeze-in-shed-20160205-gmmckn.html https://au.news.yahoo.com/magician-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter-over-autistic-boys-death-30746991.html
18/ Tanilla, who was thrown against a shower wall, sustained months of torture. https://www.dailymercury.com.au/news/how-monster-was-able-kill-little-tanilla-warrick-d/2275877/ There were more than 100 reports to DOCS. Donna gets out this year, in Oct. http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2013/1359.html?context=1;query=donna%20deaves;mask_path= Ross will die in jail. http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2014/707.html?context=1;query=Warren%20Ross%20tanilla;mask_path= FACS wasn't held to account.
19/ Little Levai Bonnar, who was tortured abysmally by his stepfather & mother and died a terrible death.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/feature/something-terrible-has-happened-levai 7 years old, another failure of FACS. Sure, his stepfather, a #Hillsong worshipping hip-hop artist went to jail - but that doesn't bring Levai back.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/feature/something-terrible-has-happened-levai 7 years old, another failure of FACS. Sure, his stepfather, a #Hillsong worshipping hip-hop artist went to jail - but that doesn't bring Levai back.
20/ The unnamed 5year old boy who died at his foster parents home with a cocktail of drugs in his system. He had cockroach bites on his body and burns on his back. 2 other children died in foster care in Uniting and they are still before the Coroner. https://7news.com.au/news/crime/foster-mum-charged-over-murder-of-baby-boy-allegedly-seen-forcing-child-into-bath-c-116041
21/ Liam Milne, murdered by his father Darren, who planted bombs in the engine bay of their car to kill Liam, his brother (who survived) and his mum, as well as himself. Liam had Fragile X. http://www.coroners.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Findings%20Castillo,%20Milne%20and%20Milne.pdf https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/central-coast/coroner-slams-fathers-preventable-role-in-murdersuicide/news-story/2df2f17f8865bf47390e01c7d8eae72f
22/ Eliza and Manrique, who were slaughtered along with their mother and family pet when their father rigged up the house with gas to murder them. They were talented kids who liked painting and animals. They were Deaf and autistic, and were ten years old. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12222166
23/ And from my community, the Cockman family. Who were predominantly autistic - Kayden, Ayre, Rylan, Taye. https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/this-is-insane-the-family-fight-to-learn-lessons-from-the-margaret-river-murders-20190820-p52j37.html
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/south-west/margaret-river-massacre-depression-drug-clue-to-grandfathers-murder-of-family-ng-b88840726z And Katrina, who was also autistic, from my local community here in WA.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/south-west/margaret-river-massacre-depression-drug-clue-to-grandfathers-murder-of-family-ng-b88840726z And Katrina, who was also autistic, from my local community here in WA.
24/ There are more - many more. These are some of the disabled children and adults murdered by family members, who Willow has gone to join.
The last word goes to Taye, who will never grow up. "I spend all my time trying to be me, but then not offend people by being me."
~ Taye
The last word goes to Taye, who will never grow up. "I spend all my time trying to be me, but then not offend people by being me."
~ Taye
25/ Do not let these deaths be in vain.
Read the stories. Pull them apart. Work out who failed to keep these children safe. Fix this, because our children are our future - all of our futures. Including disabled children, who have as much to give to the world as the rest of you.
Read the stories. Pull them apart. Work out who failed to keep these children safe. Fix this, because our children are our future - all of our futures. Including disabled children, who have as much to give to the world as the rest of you.
