Sad news

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

Watched this unfold through the night , very sad .

http://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/14479/Body_of_four-year-old_found_in_Raigmore_Hospital_incident.html

[Tug]

always sad to hear about children dying

although according to the news feeds tonight they have arrested a woman over it so at least there may be hope of an explanation

[Proctor]

Horrible news, I have to admit though that Reporting Scotland;s coverage was pretty poor while in comparison SKY News covered the story a lot more.

[Scotty]

Its a very sad and tragic story, as the death of a child - by fair means or foul - always is. Given the limited amount of information available online, just short news articles with very little detail, then just maybe we do not know the whole story. She may have mental issues, real & serious ones, not manufactured ones like in some court cases. There may have been some form of accident and panic set in afterwards, or indeed she may be a cold hearted killer .... Until more hard facts emerge, I dont think I will rush to judgement !

What is clear is that the Police seem to think Murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice (ie. trying to cover up the alleged crime) are appropriate charges and they now need to prove that.

If the facts emerge and it turns out she IS a cold hearted killer then I will join in and happily give the <currently hidden> comment a big green dot !

[Charles Bannerman]

I see the premise of innocent until proven guilty is alive and well in this discussion.

It's perhaps worth noting at this stage that if the mother has been charged, then there are severe legal constraints as to what can and cannot be said in the public domain. I'm not an expert on law and journalism, but Smee does appear to have made a comment which presumes guilt and which could, as a result, be illegal.

[+DoofersDad]

We shouldn't let our instinctive feelings of revulsion run away with our assumptions of what has happened here. We don't know the full circumstances although the rumour mill is working overtime. What we do know is that cases of mothers murdering their young children are extremely rare. What is much more common is for mothers to do nothing to prevent abuse perpetrated on their children by the father or "stepfather". However appalled we may by what appears to have happened we can be pretty certain that the accused woman is a very disturbed individual.

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

It's common knowledge in Inverness what happened but as has been stated this is not the place to be discussing the case .

[Scotty]

I see the premise of innocent until proven guilty is alive and well in this discussion.

It's perhaps worth noting at this stage that if the mother has been charged, then there are severe legal constraints as to what can and cannot be said in the public domain. I'm not an expert on law and journalism, but Smee does appear to have made a comment which presumes guilt and which could, as a result, be illegal.

Not sure why someone gave you a red dot for this comment but I gave you a green one to balance it up ..... because you are correct.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion about this case and given that it involved a young child, emotions are likely to run extremely high. Many may claim to have "inside info" and perhaps they do but the simple fact of the matter is that charges have been laid and a criminal case is pending therefore legally our hands are somewhat tied in what we can say, and what kind of statements we can allow to be posted.

Please consider what you are posting before you post it and save us the trouble of deleting controversial posts. There will be plenty of time for discussing this well after the criminal case has been completed !

This stance is done not to stifle debate, its a hot topic in Inverness at the moment obviously, and we are more than open to letting the thread continue. However, my priority has to be the site so this reminder, and any actions we take on individual posts is done to protect the forum and its users from any potential hassle from the judiciary. I know its unlikely that we would get any nasty letters but this has been site policy since well before our SportNetwork days on any topic where criminal proceedings are in the works.

I have hidden/deleted/edited any posts I think may breach our policy and any responses to them that may now be out of context. No warnings or bans are being handed out, and the fact that a post is being hidden or deleted does not necessarily mean we disagree with the opinion expressed in it ... we are just covering our arses !!!

[TopSix]

I don't think there's anythng more which can be said about this.