INDEPENDENT NEWS

‘Horse whip’ mother writes to Speaker

Published: Sat 3 Jun 2006 03:09 PM
‘Horse whip’ mother writes to Speaker of the House asking for truth
The mother at the center of the infamous ‘horse whip’ case in Timaru, that the anti-smacking lobby has quoted as being a good reason to ban smacking, has written an open letter to MP Sue Bradford and Children’s Commissioner Cindy Kiro, and now the Speaker of the House, Margaret Wilson.
She says
“Dear Madam Speaker,
I respectfully ask that you address this matter in the house.
Over the past year I have become increasingly disheartened by the outright public lies Ms Sue Bradford of the Green Party has told about a Timaru court case where a woman disciplined her son with a riding crop. Ms Bradford has deliberately misled the public and indeed lied to the select committee investigating the repeal of S59, when she has quoted this case.
It is entirely inappropriate for her to use a case, the circumstances of which she has no factual knowledge, to further a political agenda, and deliberately mislead the public by quoting this case as an authority, which she is not.
Ms Cindy Kiro, Commissioner for Children, a high ranking government employee, is guilty of the same lies and deliberate deception of the public, in misquoting the facts of this case.
Both of these women must be held accountable for their lies, to Parliament, the media, the country, and indeed the members of the Select Committee.
It is inappropriate that either woman would be as presumptuous to assume they know better than a jury of twelve good, honest New Zealand citizens, when neither of them were in any way party to the facts of the case, and neither were in attendance in the courtroom.
I presume they have based their statements on sensationalist media reports, and added their own emotive words like "whipped", "attacked" , "abused" and "beaten" to promote their anti-family agendas. None of these emotive words can truthfully be applied to this case.
They have chosen to leave out pertinent facts, such as the extreme behavior presented by the child, and the calmly applied, appropriate discipline, by a loving parent, to correct his abhorrent behaviour ( which the discipline was very effective in achieving.) They also leave out that the woman did not give evidence on her own behalf and was acquitted based on prosecution evidence alone.
These women are promoting a system of belief to the public, based on the lies they tell about this case and others. (i.e.: no child has been assaulted with a plank of wood, or four by two, and none with a pipe and yet they quote these cases consistently as being true and factual.)
They are deliberately distorting the Timaru case as a reason to repeal S59. This case is one of the very reasons S59 should NOT be repealed.
Ms Bradford and Ms Kiro belief system can only serve to lead to the moral decay of our nation. A moral decay which begins with their lies.
The removal of a parents right to physically discipline when appropriate and reasonable, and the child’s need to be disciplined in this manner when appropriate, can only lead to breakdown of the family unit and society generally. Undisciplined children become undisciplined adults. Undisciplined adults lead to anarchy and lawlessness in society.
The following is an email I sent to both of these women on Thursday 1st of June.
As yet, neither of them have responded.
Dear Ms Bradford, (Ms Kiro)
Re: Timaru Riding Crop Case
I am fed up with you deliberately misleading and mis- informing the public about my case to push your own anti- social political agenda. Your comments about me are nothing short of defamatory.
You were not part of the jury, and yet you continually speak as an authority on our case and as if you were party to the complete case. You were not and are not either.
How arrogant of you, who were not part of the proceedings to insist the Juries decision was wrong and state that this was a clear cut case of abuse. Clearly to the jury, it was not.
I love my son very dearly.
I have not ever attacked my son or assaulted him on any occasion and I demand a formal public apology.
I insist that you desist immediately from quoting my case in any media of any form, other than to formally apologise to me, my son for the undue stress your defamatory lies have caused, the jury's whose decision you have defamed, the general public and the member of the select committee for deliberately misleading them in citing our case, and intentionally lying about the "facts".
If you are heard to quote this case again you will be formally served with defamation proceedings.
In any retraction of your lies do not use my name as a full suppression order is in force.”
Family First supports the mother’s call for honesty in the debate on smacking.
We believes that the public of NZ needs to know the full facts of this case, (as with the “4 by 2” case and other similar cases), as they will then understand why this mother (and many other parents who use physical discipline) was found to be acting as any reasonable parent would in the circumstances.
Sue Bradford and Cindy Kiro’s agenda must not get in the way of the facts.
ENDS

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