Light sentencing of New Zealand mother who killed autistic daughter expected

Web posted at 31-Jul-98 01:08 Central European Time

Earlier, on July 16th, the High Court of Palmerston North had acquitted Albury-Thomson of murder and found her guilty of manslaughter, in a trial that raised much public attention in New Zealand but has received little or no publicity in the rest of the world.

Casey was severely handicapped by her autism, and needed constant supervision. As autistic children do in order to meet their sensory needs, she rocked and spun, and ripped her clothes and bed linen. Also, she wetted her bed and the floor. No help was available to Albury-Thomson and her husband, as they had gotten turned down by at least eight organisations. One residential unit took her daughter for three days before saying she was an unbearable burden.

Jury members cried on that July 16th, as Albury-Thomson explained how she strangled her daughter with a bathrobe cord and told her she was sending her to heaven. She told of how she struggled to bring up Casey, whose behaviour she felt was out of control, until she feared she was on the brink of insanity.

The jury heard that on the morning of her death, Casey began chanting incessantly "the sun is rising, the sun is rising". Albury-Thomson said, "I began thinking, `For God's sake, this is too much. Where do you draw the line? How much is a person expected to cope with?'"

She had driven Casey to a bridge and urged her to jump off. She said she had "foolishly" expected her daughter would "climb up and throw herself off" the railing, but the girl had refused.

Albury-Thomson said she had then realised that she would have to kill her daughter herself. She drove back home with Casey to look for something to do it with and found the bathrobe cord. "I wrapped it around her neck and pulled (...) then I wrapped it around and pulled again (...) and then again, all in different directions, and kept thinking, this isn't happening quickly enough. (...) She didn't die quickly and I held on tight, saying `let go, for God's sake let go', and telling her I loved her."

After killing Casey, she drove to a police station with her daughter's body in the car, and confessed. In statements to police, she said she had no regrets about killing her daughter and had contemplated it many times. "I did it. I strangled my daughter. She was a misfit. People were scared of her because she was different," she said. "I wish it could have been quicker. I'd wanted to kill her for a long time."

But before the verdict was announced, Albury-Thomson admitted in a TVNZ interview that she did not have the right to kill Casey and now had to live with her actions.

Déjà vu

Illustrating that people with autism and other disabilities are more vulnerable to crime than the general population, Dick Sobsey of ICAD, the International Coalition against Abuse of people with Disabilities, says in an e-mail to this writer: "We've been collecting stories of homicides commited against people with developmental disabilities. We are well over 500 and I am sorry to say people with autism make up a substantial number (at least 24) of these."

Specifically, the Albury-Thomson case bears depressing similarities to an earlier, similar case that took place in Montréal, Canada, in 1996, when the autistic boy Charles Blais was drowned by his own mother, Danielle Blais. She also claimed despair and was acquitted of murder in 1997, and subsequently occupied a position at the Québec Autism Society.

The Blais case sparked a discussion in the world-wide media about mercy killing, as well as a heated discussion on the Internet between parents of autistic children and high-functioning autistic adults. Divided in two camps, many parents of autistic children expressed sympathy for the killer, whereas the participating adults with autism favoured sympathy for the autistic child instead, arguing that an autistic person's life is worth just as much as a neuro-typical person's life.

• Read online discussion about the Blais case (via Deja News)

Sympathy for the killer

In a depressing example, one autism support group said it had fielded many calls on the subject since the high-profile trial opened. "Everyone has said they understand how she could have done what she did. There have been times we all could have done it," Sharon van Ameringen, secretary of Tauranga Autistic Support Group told local media.

Some high-functioning autistic adults disagree, personally knowing a number of parents who would have never given a thought to killing their autistic children. Such parents are evident in online support groups where autistic adults are also present, offering valuable perspective, insight and hope -- and receiving the same in return.

As understandable as sympathy for the killer is, given the impossible situation so many parents and their autistic children are in, it will now be up to people with high-functioning autism to once again speak up for those of their peers who, like Casey and Charles, cannot not speak for themselves.

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