Better let go!

Posted 26 Jul 2010 by Walaa Idris

As a parent the murder of James Bulger has shocked and horrified me. Years later and the trial of Jon Venables (one of his killers who was let out after spending half his sentence and given a new identity) for his use of child pornography brings this sad saga back into the limelight.

Listening to Denise (Bulger) Fergus on sky, the mother of James Bulger, you can see and hear the raw pain in her face, her voice and her body language.
Understandably, nothing the courts do and no punishment they pass will ever ease that pain. It is hard to think how, but if Denise Fergus can let go of her bitter pain, she will be the better for it.

People like Venables are damaged goods – although that should never excuse what they do – but nevertheless they need help and even sympathy. As for Denise Fergus, she deserves better than spending her life imprisoned in hate and bitterness, and young James merits a better memory.

Personally, I would love to know and read about what he liked and enjoyed to do, what he might have been doing now had he lived. To constantly link his name and his memory only with his horrific death and her undying pain is an unfair legacy to his short innocent life.

4 comment(s)

Ean Craigie

Ean Craigie
26 Jul, 17:19

It is rare that we disagree but I think you are very wrong here. There is one sentence that would bring her peace and that is the one that we constantly shirk, capital punishment. Do I mean that both of the boys should have been sentenced to death, not at that age, but Venables has shown as you note he is damaged goods and needs to be removed from society.

Why should we continue to pay for a human that is this damaged. No one has seen fit to ask how he came by his “dependencies” of alcohol and cocaine when he spent his formative years in prison, nor will anyone explain them.

There are people amongst us that are so damaged that they need to be removed, one way is to build more prisons and lock them away, not to be reformed but to be punished.

Maybe I am different and of an older age but one of the things that has kept me on the straight and narrow are the moral codes I was taught and the fear of punishment that was there when I was growing up

There are cases where it is possible to recover a person and that they will then become a contributor to society and so I dont say hang them all.

We need to have somewhere in society where those who choose not to contribute are punished in a manner where they truly pay for their crimes both morally and fiscally.

Paul Ingham

Paul Ingham
27 Jul, 00:15

Forgiveness is ultimately an act of self-preservation. It is an act designed to scab over the running-sores of hatred and bitterness before they damage you permanently. Can Denise Fergus ever forgive? I don’t know, but she will never be able to get on with her life until she tries.

Walaa

Walaa
27 Jul, 14:28

Ean, yes it is but it is also healthy I see your point and agree that we need more effective sentencing – I don’t in capital punishment – I rather prefer live without any [no buts or ifs] parole!

Paul, I suspect she can not and it will be easy but she will be the better for it if she did. If not for her for her family [I understand she have other children]

Thank you both, I enjoy your comments please do keep them coming!

Ean Craigie

Ean Craigie
27 Jul, 18:36

The problem with no parole is where is the will to build the prisons and train the warders, no government since Maggies has been willing to even open the discussion.

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