I will never see my kids' faces again': Tears of mother blinded by boyfriend

A man today plead guilty to gouging his girlfriend's eyes out. He will be sentenced next month. It's a chilling story, and you can't help but feel for the victim. In the same assault he also broke her jaw and nose.

The story also serves as a reminder of the kind of people who are out there in the world. There are some truly awful human beings walking around. It's worth remembering that. There are some very good people in the world, but on the flip side there are also some very bad people in the world. Or maybe bad is the wrong word. Maybe damaged fits better.

In this instance, the perpetrator is obviously a damaged human being himself. I was watching one of those Scared Straight documentaries last year. An inmate from San Quentin phrased it best when he said, “hurt people hurt people.”

More than anything though I feel for victim. It's such an awful, awful thing that has happened to her.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2129225/Hes-robbed-precious-things-life-Tears-mother-blinded-boyfriend-GOUGED-eyes-out.html

 

Starman to the white courtesy phone, please.

 

An interview with the woman. I watched this video and couldn't help but feel for her. It's such a terrible, terrible thing.

 

He should be executed.

 

Before execution, let's get Biblical. Eye for an eye for an eye for an eye. Let him live without sight for some years ... then strap him in the chair and throw the switch.

 

Evil

 

Scum of the earth.

 

He had to really be working at it to gouge her eyes out. That's inhuman.

She had bailed him out of jail for past offenses.

 

No.

 

No.

 

I spend a lot of time - way too much time - thinking about whether people who commit heinous crimes like this are redeemable. There's that scene in "The Shawshank Redemption" when Red talks about how badly he wishes he could go back in time and talk to the young kid who did the horrible thing that got him thrown in jail. It's pretty clear at the end of the movie that Red is a changed man.

That said, it'd be tough for me, even if I was rehabilitated, to come to grips with the fact that my hands inflicted so much pain, whether it is a maiming like this or a murder or a rape. And that my mind conjured such an act. I would struggle with the same thing were I a soldier who had seen combat.

One tough thing about prison as a punishment is that, as bad as prison conditions can be, studies show that lengthier sentences do not increase the punishment proportionally. There was a saying on "The Wire": "You only do two days. The day you get there. And the day you leave." And that's kind of true, from what has been studied. Inmates adjust. They get institutionalized.

Sadly, I guess you just have to live with the fact that, no matter how we try to set up punishments and so forth, crimes like this will always occasionally happen. You just try to minimize them.

 

Shane Jenkin was jailed for life back in May. His minimum term, though there is no guarantee that he will be released when it is up, is six years.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_statements/shane_jenkin_sentenced_to_life/