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61 Medico-Legal J. 3 (1993)

handle is hein.journals/medlgjr61 and id is 1 raw text is: MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL Founded 1901 1993 Vol. 61 Part One EDITORIAL Any police officer, lawyer or doctor involved in the investigation and prosecu- tion of cases of Child Abuse will readily admit that they are among the most distressing crimes to deal with. These are special crimes in that they are perpe- trated against defenceless members of society who are unable to defend them- selves verbally or physically; they are also amongst the most difficult to prose- cute. In the recent case of Baby Kim Griffin who had suffered multiple fractures and died three days later as a result of those fractures there was no doubt that the injuries had been deliberately inflicted and there was no doubt that the injuries were the direct and only cause of death. The only doubt that existed was who had caused the injuries? Was it only one of the parents or both of the parents and if neither then who? The Crown Prosecution Service considered the evidence carefully and decided that they were unable, because of the lack of clear evidence regarding the assailant(s), to charge anyone with murder. They charged both parents instead with cruelty, but this charge was dropped at the Magistrates Court because of 'insufficient evidence for a realistic chance of a conviction'. The reason for this failure of the prosecution case was simple - both parents stood resolutely behind their right of silence. From their point of view this was, without doubt, entirely the correct course of action and entirely within their legal rights. Given the closed nature of the events leading to many of the violent child- hood deaths it is only the carers, usually but not always the parents, who can give any reliable information regarding the events surrounding the injuries or the death. If those 'carers' exercise their right of silence then the events which culminate in severe injury or death will never be known and those who commit- ted those acts will, as the law stands, remain not only unpunished but free, possibly, to commit the same acts again. The individuals are also 'free' to suffer the psychological trauma of any action or inaction on their part which may have led to the injury or death. The case of Baby Kim Griffin is the latest in a number of cases which have attracted increasingly hostile responses from the press and the general public. Some two years ago the parents of Doreen Mason, a two year old child who died as a result of extensive and severe injuries which showed evidence of hay-