Petition to sterilise abusers

Bay of Plenty woman Diane Howell is petitioning for a change in the law that would lead to people convicted and incarcerated for child abuse being sterilised.

Nearly 60 New Zealand children have been beaten to death, suffered brain damage or broken bones at the hands of family members over the last 24 years, and Diane wants to put a stop to it.


Diane Howell is calling for child abusers to be sterilised. Photo: Andrew Campbell.

The former Barnardos worker is launching a petition calling for the enforced sterilisation, with the aim being to prevent people who injure or kill their children from having any more.

'I'm just sick of it,” says Diane. 'Nothing's working. The statistics are just the same, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.”

After visiting police and receiving council permission to take her message public, Diane is ready to start collecting signatures in Tauranga's Red Square this Saturday (October 17).

'There's only me and a family friend doing it,” says Diane. 'We are starting in Tauranga, but we might leave the forms at the council and the hospital to see if more people sign them.”

Just how many signatures she will need is unclear, but there is no minimum on petitioning Parliament.

Ask her what sort of abuse she's talking about, and Diane recounts a handful of examples off the top of her head.

'Craig Manukau aged 11, kicked to death with steel capped boots by his father, while his mother turned up the radio to drown out the noise.

'Delcelia Witaker age two, placed in boiling water, beaten with a fish slice and left in her cot to die while the parents went partying.

'Nia Glassie age three, placed in a clothes dryer on high heat for 30 minutes, held over a fire, folded into a sofa and sat upon, flung into a wall and dropped from a height.

'If anyone goes to jail for harming babies, they should not have any more babies.

'You have to be pretty bad in New Zealand to go to jail, and then it's a very minimum sentence.”

Diane previously worked with Barardos and co-ordinated supervised child access.

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9 comments

I'll Sign That!

Posted on 14-10-2015 09:04 | By Kiwis

Go you Diane! Fully support this. My husband & I have been saying the same thing for years. Need to get a wider base that just Tga for signatures though, there are online options, should definitely look into as I think you will get a lot of support. Far too many little ones are injured/murdered in the home with little or no consequence for the Perpetrator.


About time.

Posted on 14-10-2015 09:27 | By Ebco

I will sign that.


Will never happen

Posted on 14-10-2015 10:48 | By Seriously?

I can't see how this will stop child abuse - you don't have to be the biological parent to be able to abuse kids. People who are abusing kids will still keep doing it, but it will just be other peoples kids they do it to - can you be sterilised for abusing other peoples kids? Then there is the human rights aspect and the can of worms there.


Where can I sign

Posted on 14-10-2015 12:35 | By fletch

Hopefully you will have every parent and grandparent signing this


good luck

Posted on 14-10-2015 17:18 | By Captain Sensible

I'd prefer the death penalty but in todays PC world that won't happen. Good luck with this alternative.


Overit

Posted on 14-10-2015 18:20 | By overit

You go girl. Of course the PC brigade will stomp all over your idea. Where can we sign?


Sex Nuts

Posted on 14-10-2015 18:55 | By socantor

When will you people learn that these guys are mental cases? They should be treated as such. Is this how we should be looking after sick people, by locking them in jail? Sure, they are a very real danger, but they cannot be changed - it is a mental condition that sterilization cannot fix.


I won't sign

Posted on 15-10-2015 08:20 | By The author of this comment has been removed.

This is feudal style punishment. Courts have no place to decide whether you may or may not have further children! What's next - remove your hand because you stole something? The real answer is education about child abuse and family being proactive in it's prevention, not sterilising people!


YES

Posted on 15-10-2015 09:45 | By Rate1

Where do I sign??


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