陪审团得出结论 多伦多华人彭璇溺毙自闭症女儿判刑五年

binfeng2000

这桩案件在2006年发生,2008年初审被判无期,后来发现法官不符合程序而推翻重审,现在判五年,但是因为该犯已经被押三十个月,法庭开恩给于优惠,以三十个月折算成五年刑期，该妇得以释放。


不幸丧身的幼女被诊断为轻微的自闭症,当时被发现死在放满水的浴缸里,当时母亲宣称自己是将女儿午睡,不知道怎么女儿会自己进到浴缸里,但是法庭还是判她有罪.

binfeng2000

Mother admits to drowning autistic child

Shannon Kari/National Post



A woman who drowned her four-year-old daughter in a bathtub six years ago told a Toronto court yesterday she hoped to have children in the future — then walked out a free woman.

“I still want to have a baby. I won’t kill another baby,” said Xuan Peng, 38, in between sobs after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Peng was sentenced to five years in prison. Since she had already been in pre-trial custody for 30 months, Peng was given two-for-one credit for time served and was released yesterday afternoon.

She was originally convicted of second-degree murder in March 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for at least 10 years. The conviction was quashed and a new trial ordered last December, when it was revealed Superior Court Justice Mary Lou Benotto erred in her instructions to the jury.


In a statement of facts submitted to the court, the prosecution and the defence agreed to a manslaughter charge and the lenient term noting the significance of Peng’s bipolar disorder when coupled with raising an autistic child.

“Given her unique circumstances, especially given the stresses in her life and her mental state, a five-year prison sentence seemed the appropriate range,” assistant Crown attorney Joshua Levy said.

Peng gave birth to her daughter, Scarlett, in 2000 and went into depression. Unable to care for her daughter, Peng and her then-husband sent Scarlett to live with her maternal grandmother in China. When Scarlett and Peng’s mother returned in 2004, Scarlett was diagnosed with autism.

The same afternoon Scarlett was diagnosed, Peng was left alone with the child for three hours — the first time Scarlett had been solely in her mother’s care since September 2001. Frustrated by her daughter’s disruptive behaviour, Peng pushed her daughter’s head underwater in the family bathtub. A pediatric pathologist later declared Scarlett could have lost consciousness in as little as 30 seconds.

“To use the vernacular, Ms. Peng simply ‘snapped,’ ” said Justice Ian Nordheimer. “The facts of this case are, to say the least, tragic.” Although Judge Nordheimer acknowledged Peng’s five-year prison sentence is “at the low end” of the manslaughter prosecution spectrum, he noted the circumstances of the case are unique and Peng does not pose a danger to society.

Defence lawyer Edward Hung expressed Peng’s regret for her actions and intention to seek counselling.

“She has come to grips with the mistake she has made,” he said. “A huge mistake.”

Peng addressed a group of reporters outside the downtown Toronto courthouse after being released, describing the death of her daughter as “the most stupid thing I have ever done.”

“I will feel great regret the rest of my life,” Peng said. “I miss my daughter every day. I still love my daughter. I hate autism.”

Peng, who has no family in Canada, intends to return to China.

With files from Shannon Kari

overgame

多伦多太阳报的报导如下：

A petite, mentally ill woman expressed love and remorse for the four-year-old autistic daughter she admitted drowning six years ago.

“I love Scarlett but I hate autism,” Xuan “Linda” Peng said after she walked to freedom two hours after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

The 38-year-old woman, who was diagnosed in 2002 as being bipolar, was sentenced to the equivalent of five years plus one day for the homicide of Scarlett Chen, her four-year-old, on July 12, 2004.

“This is the most stupid thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Peng told reporters outside court. “I will feel great regret for the rest of my life. I will be a very good mother.”

Peng said her daughter was “a very beautiful baby, very strong and tall, with long legs.”

Peng repeatedly told Justice Ian Nordheimer that she wanted to bear more children and wouldn’t kill “another baby.”

Peng “reacted under pressure in a most appalling way ... but she didn’t do so under any evil ... intention,” said Nordheimer, who also ordered that Peng serve three years of probation and maintain psychiatric treatment.

Peng wasn’t prohibited from being alone with children because she “doesn’t represent a threat to children,” Nordheimer said.

Crown attorney Joshua Levy said Peng should have been protecting her vulnerable child and instead killed her. Peng “snapped” while caring for her autistic child for the first time in almost three years that day at her Rosebank Dr. home in Scarborough.

“Peng, at her wit’s end after a day of bad news and the extreme stress of taking care of her autistic child, snapped. In a moment of frustration and anger, Peng held Scarlett’s head under the water for some time,” Levy said in reading an agreed statement of fact.

When she realized Scarlett was unconscious, she pulled her out of the tub and attempted to revive her. But it was too late and Scarlett never regained consciousness.

“In shock, feeling guilty and not wanting her husband or mother to know what she had done, she placed Scarlett’s body back into the tub full of water. Peng waited downstairs, watching TV and waiting for her husband and mom to come home,” Levy said.

On the same day of Scarlett’s death, Peng, her husband, David Chen, and her mom, Li Ning, heard some crushing news from a Scarborough doctor. He told them Scarlett’s condition couldn’t be cured by surgery and that she would never function normally and would require assistance throughout her life.

“Obviously nothing we can do can bring Scarlett back,” Crown attorney Kim Motyl said. “This was the first time we had heard from Peng about what really happened in that bathtub.”

Last year the Court of Appeal overturned a 2008 conviction for second-degree murder. Peng had served 30 months of a life sentence and was given credit for five years.

Peng, who was born and raised in China and studied civil engineering, married high school sweetheart Chen in 1995. Scarlett, born in January 2000, was their only child. In September 2001, they sent the 20-month-old girl to China to be raised by a grandmother. In March 2004, Scarlett returned to Canada with her grandmother, who remained the primary caregiver.

Chen and Peng are now divorced but remain friends.

最后一句好象和自闭及错杀主题无关，直译为“夫妻分手仍是朋友”。

amberbrown101

her smile gave me goosebumps.

一一妈妈

生了又不养，养了三小时就决定溺死亲生女儿，这女人禽兽不如！如果真是精神病，那么在清醒的时候就应该自杀赎罪，怎么出狱的时候还笑得这么灿烂？！

binfeng2000

“I love Scarlett but I hate autism,”


---我就讨厌这个人拿自闭症来做借口，杀人就是杀人,放什么狗屁。

秦

悲剧.
30秒种的情感失控.

张雁

看到这个女人的笑真是毛骨悚然。

方静

我也不喜欢她的笑容。
要么精神病，我可以谅解。
如果正常，真的应该为自己所做的付出代价。
怎么能笑得出来。

sunhaochun9

是什么样的环境造就了这极端冷血的灵魂？！

binfeng2000

这是我听到的第二个多伦多中国人星儿家庭的悲剧了,象这个悲剧里,如果当时妈妈刚开始了解到自闭症时有个全面和理智的认识,如果她有一些老家长们的帮助，她或许还不至于做到那一步.真希望多伦多的家长们也有自己的团体组织，相互照应。

张雁

我真觉得她那种“爱”带着太强的控制欲，本身就不太正常。

秦

她不是为了孩子可以放弃一切的哪一种父母,所谓的爱是极端自私的爱,实际上她爱的是她自己.

bbf0808

什么样的男人还敢娶这样的女人！

promax

楼主转载这样的新闻干啥？纯粹要推高论坛人气吗？还是觉得以琳论坛里正面的帖子太多了，添加多点负面的东西来讨论讨论以求和谐？

人在多伦多

这个事件在多伦多当时是很轰动的。华人社区有两种声音，一种是坚持认为彭没有罪的。另一种则是认为她是凶手。

对彭个人，我并不认识。一个朋友认识她，坚信她不是凶手。好像认识她的人都坚信她不是凶手。
她的丈夫也一直支持她，坚信妻子不是凶手。遗憾的是，在彭入狱后的一段时间，他们还是离婚了。

彭当时是否受着抑郁症或者其它精神疾病的困扰也不得而知。对于彭而言，她的人生也因此而彻底改变了。只能说，这是个悲剧。

overgame

转贴:


彭璇案反思：你了解子女教育权益吗？

六月十五日从新闻中得知彭璇案的二审结果：误杀罪名成立，判处五年刑期，但因已羁押五年而当庭释放。作为一位对加拿大法律和教育制度有一定了解的父亲，深感这是一个多重的悲剧，而且是一个或许可以避免的悲剧。基于这种感想，本人今天希望与各位（特别是父母们）分享一点本人对安省教育制度的认识。

很多国内来的朋友，之所以放弃已经在国内不错的事业，而来加拿大重新开始。我相信相当一部人，是基于相信加拿大可以为子女提供更好的教育环境，认可它的相对公平、透明的法律制度，以及它完善的社会保障体系。本人对的安省教育制度研究的兴趣，也是缘于一个偶然的情况。几年前我大儿子就读北约克某小学期间，我在几次提前到学校接他的时候发现到一个特别的现象，除了讲课的老师外，教室里还有一位老师，她一直是坐在一位学生旁边，陪他上课，下课后还亲自将他送到接他的学生家长面前。后来我从儿子那里了解到，这个学生有多动症，如果没有老师在旁边，他可能无法正常上课，而且会影响到老师和其他学生。这件事引起了我的好奇，我相信这位老师应该是学校安排的，而不会是学生家长付费的。这样安排的成本是很高，学校愿意或者有财力负担吗？基于这样的好奇，我开始注意安省教育运作体系和相关的法律规定。

安省教育法（The Education Act）规定，如果经过IPRC( Identification, Placement and Review Committee )的认定，某位学生是需要额外教育方式和资源的特别学生（exceptional pupil），此学校和学区的教育局，有义务提供需要的教育方式和资源，如果该教育局无法提供，他们必须从其他教育局或机构购买需要的教育项目和配套资源。我这里说的特别学生，包括天才/优质生，和有学习或身心障碍的学生。一般而言，如果这种有特别需求学生的状况非常明显，即使家长没有要求，学校通常也会主动与家长联络，并做相应的安排。问题是，如果家长观察到子女有这样的需求，但学校并未在相应安排时，家长能做什么来为子女争取他们的教育权益呢？下面我为大家简单介绍一下。

首先，家长有权向学校校长递交正式书面信函，要求启动IPRC程序来认定子女的需求。校长在接到信函的15天之内，必须提供家长教育局的特别教育家长说明书，收获家长要求确认函，以及IPRC启动的大致时间。家长和他们的子女（如果是16岁或以上）有权参与IPRC会议讨论全过程。如果家长需要，可以带一位代表或翻译来协助自己或代为发言。参与会议的，还有校长，学生的老师，特别教育项目专家和其他相关机构的代表。如有需要，家长或校长，还可以要求其他人士参加会议。在会议前十天，家长将收到开会通知，以及IPRC手中与评估此学生相关的资料复印件，包括各种评估，测试结果。在正式开会时，IPRC将探讨审核所有提交的文件资料，面试学生，讨论各种安排建议（包括家长提出的），然后作出决定，确认此学生是否是特别学生，如是，提出具体的教育安排，在原校提供资源项目安排，还是转至其他更合适的学校。

家长收到IPRC决定的15天之内，可以要求召开第二次IPRC会议讨论家长的关心问题，或者在30天内提出上诉。在收到第二次IPRC会议决定的15天内，也可提出上诉。教育局收到上诉要求后，将组成一个特别教育上诉委员会听审，由三人组成，其中一人由家长指定，这些人对案情事先无了解。上诉委员会一般将在30天内开庭，审核各方提出的所有资料，面试相关人士。家长和其16岁以上的子女，有权参与所有的讨论。上诉委员会必须在庭审结束后的3天内，提出他们的建议（请注意，它是 Recommendation，不是Decision）。因为它是并非有法律约束力的决定，教育局可能在收到建议后置之不理。家长对建议仍不满意的话，可以进一步向特别教育裁判庭提出上诉。此庭作出的裁定，将有法律约束力。

本人给各位家长的建议是，法律制度提供给家长的子女教育权益，是需要我们去主动争取的。而且我们最了解自己的子女，我们应该主动收集提供子女智能，学习能力，行为习惯的第一手资料，这对于 IPRC的评估结果是有相当影响力的。而且，如果你有这些资料和观察，将能够在参与评估的讨论中，为您的子女争取他们的权益，说服其他相关人士。

假设彭小姐对加国教育资源有全面了解，并且为女儿争取到完善的教育安排，再假设她女儿经过适当的教育培养，能够逐渐加强生活、学习能力，或许，这是一个可以避免的悲剧。我要强调，对于自己的子女（无论健康与否），我们都只有爱护、培养的责任。因材施教、以人为本，是我们老祖宗的格言，但鼓励和爱心教育也是同等重要，而且要身体力行。