Coroner's Jury Begins Deliberations Into Youngster's Death
By 250 News
The Coroner’s jury in the Amanda Jean Simpson inquest has begun its deliberations.
In her summary to the jury, Coroner Beth Larcombe advised that she had met with Amanda’s eldest sister, 16-year-old Ashley Simpson, during the course of the inquest.
And, while Ashley did not want to appear, she wanted the Coroner to share this message: Ashley, who would have been eight at the time, says she has no clear recollection of the events of the evening Amanda died. But she told Larcombe, she would rather that this inquest not happen now.
The teen worried that her brother and sisters aren’t going to be allowed to play with other children, that they will be treated differently.
"Peope look at you -- they don’t have to say anything -- you can see it." Ashley felt the media have been blaming her parents and she said, "The whole pity thing makes it worse."
She said, "It would be better for us if it (the inquest) didn’t happen."
She feared people may get fired (within the Ministry of Children and Families) and said that everyone in the family has moved on and, then this happens, and it brings it all back. And she wanted Coroner Beth Larcombe to tell everyone that Amanda will never be forgotten.
Larcombe advised the jury that, while there are five classifications for death, this death was neither "natural" nor was it a "suicide", so the jury is left with the options of: accidental, homicide or undetermined.
The coroner says, “If you believe Mr. Polson’s account, that the injuries sustained by Amanda occurred when he slipped and fell, then it would be accidental. If you believe the injuries were intentionally inflicted, regardless of intent to kill, that would be homicide.”
The inquest will reconvene at 5:00pm this evening to assess the jury’s progress in deliberations.
Previous Story - Next Story
Email
Print
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
Del.icio.usReturn to Home
Posted by: snappi on June 14 2007 11:04 PM
I feel for the kid, I really do. However, denial is a dangerous thing and I can't bring myself to care about how it affects her social life. There are more important things in the equation. Don't worry about people getting fired. First, there is lots of open positions for those people to go to, they wouldn't be out of work for two days. Second, it's not your call and it's not your concern. If I need to terminate an employee, it's not based on how everybody feels about it. It's based on a specific need to take action.
In this case, it may be a specific need to take action to prevent a repeat event.
Regardless of how Ashley feels about it, I'm sure the people affected by a subsequent death will not be so understanding of a lack of preventive action.
Lastly, someone get this kid to a good counsellor. Look how messed up her thought patterns are.