Man jailed for killing girlfriend's baby (2 Viewers)

[nerd2die4]

Man jailed for killing girlfriend's baby
18:02 AEST Mon Jul 19 2004


A jealous and obsessive man who bashed to death his teenage girlfriend's baby son has been jailed for seven years.

Peter Chard, 24, of the Gold Coast, pleaded guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court to the manslaughter of eight-week-old baby Dallas James Withers on August 30, 2001.

Chard had previously bashed the baby, causing fractured ribs, a forehead haemorrhage and broken legs, believed to have been caused when the baby was about a month old.

The baby died after suffering severe brain damage through oxygen deprivation from collapsed lungs.

Justice Martin Moynihan said Chard had orchestrated being alone with the child, concealed the abuse and blamed his partner and a sleep disorder for the baby's condition.

"There isn't the slightest doubt that the child died from sustained bouts of violence you inflicted," Justice Moynihan said.



He said Chard had a low intellect, was illiterate and singularly ill-equipped to care for a child.

Chard was sentenced to six years jail, plus an extra 12 months for breaching a suspended sentence imposed in 2000 for dishonesty offences.

Justice Moynihan ordered that Chard, who has already served 17 months on remand, be eligible to apply for parole in another 18 months.

The baby's mother Sheree Withers and her mother Theresa Withers were in court, supported by friends and relatives wearing sweatshirts bearing the name Dallas, for the baby they never had a chance to know.

Outside court, Theresa Withers said the sentence was not enough for taking a child's life.

Chard, who was not the baby's father, lived on the Gold Coast with the then 17-year-old Sheree during and after her pregnancy.

Prosecutor Simone Bain said Chard had a short fuse, was jealous of the child and became obsessive about caring for him.

Ms Bain said on August 28 Sheree went out and wanted to take the baby with her but Chard refused.

Two hours later he called a neighbour over and she found the baby lifeless.

The child was hospitalised and resuscitated, but life support was turned off two days later.

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7 years jail and eligible for parol in 18 months? that's crazy!!!

This is one of the most pathetic decisions i have seen, and it seems to be getting more and more common within our justice system.

thoughts?

 

[hatty]

only 7 years?
man... if i was in power, i woulda had him executed

 

[jm1234567890]

Nah, it was cause it was prolly judged that he wasn't capable to take care of the baby, thus it wasn't his fault, which is fair.

I think it was just an unfortunate situation.

 

[cayte]

Where did the article come from? It sounds like a tabloid to be honest, which means there may be a bit more going on in reality that wasn't reported. He may be required to attend psychotherapy sessions or be under supervision or be prevented from coming in contact with children under a certain age or something. It's a pretty light sentence which makes me think there must be something else there.

 

[pc_wizz]

extremely light sentence ... child murderer ...

this is dissappointment ... even comin from queensland

 

[mack]

Well the police will circulate the news in prison, the inmates are going to know who he is and exactly what hes done, im sure they will make him pay dearly for his actions.

 

[nerd2die4]

there is a long string of lenient sentences or record in australia for violent crime and this adds to it. I just re-read the article and noticed that he was charged with manslaughter. thats ridiculous, it should have been murder.

 

[tattoodguy]

MORONS.

Thats fair- if its ur kid and u kill it...u shouldnt get a big sentence cos u own it.

he didnt shoot it or stab it..just a bit of hitting if it cant take a little hit -- what a wusss. Seems like a bit of accident well atleast very little intent and premeditated.

he was assulted etc as a child had a few problems etc. so overalll Who cares 7 years or whatever is fine.

we need more leniency and more flexiblity people with ur mentalities sicken me.
i know several people personally, that have been in serious trouble for voilence even though they were self defending or revenging etc and they got in alot of shit.

By calling for harsher penalties all those decent people are going to be penalised even more. Thats why i think the penalties are sufficient now. I dont want all those innocent people being even more unfairly treated.

Like if someone kills my gf, id prefer a system of light sentencing so then when i kill the scum bag i wont be in to much shit.

People stop being pussies its pathetic, we need a more ummmm survival of the fittest society. And less involvment etc from the police, courts and government.
calling for Harsher penalties is just for the weak. Tuffen up u pussies.

but yeah i think its a really sad situation but the sentence is completely fair in my opinion.

 

[santaslayer]

MORONS.

Thats fair- if its ur kid and u kill it...u shouldnt get a big sentence cos u own it.

he didnt shoot it or stab it..just a bit of hitting if it cant take a little hit -- what a wusss. Seems like a bit of accident well atleast very little intent and premeditated.

he was assulted etc as a child had a few problems etc. so overalll Who cares 7 years or whatever is fine.

we need more leniency and more flexiblity people with ur mentalities sicken me.
i know several people personally, that have been in serious trouble for voilence even though they were self defending or revenging etc and they got in alot of shit.

By calling for harsher penalties all those decent people are going to be penalised even more. Thats why i think the penalties are sufficient now. I dont want all those innocent people being even more unfairly treated.

Like if someone kills my gf, id prefer a system of light sentencing so then when i kill the scum bag i wont be in to much shit.

People stop being pussies its pathetic, we need a more ummmm survival of the fittest society. And less involvment etc from the police, courts and government.
calling for Harsher penalties is just for the weak. Tuffen up u pussies.

but yeah i think its a really sad situation but the sentence is completely fair in my opinion.

What's with the sudden switch of sides tattoodguy?

Anyway, the man was given a lighter sentence because of the mitigating situations which surrounded the incident. I would of shot him though.

 

[cayte]

I completely agree tattodfuckup. When I see you in the street and feel the need to hit you mutliple times in the head with a lead pipe, I want society to understand that I was simply doing it a service, that I am a decent person and shouldn't be punished for my actions because they were justified as I was simply behaving in accordance with Darwinian principles.

 

[mack]

Tattood is wrong anyway. The law takes into account individual circumstances with each case. You seem to have lost sight of the fact he took the life of an INNOCENT BABY. Like Santa said, his sentence may appear lenient because of the mitigating factors, but never lose sight of the basic facts here.

 

[cayte]

What? No, we weren't talking about the baby, I said what I had to say about the baby (not particularly eloquently, but others have made the point so it doesn't need to be rehashed), I was directly addressing the general points on societal violence and the ways in which it is dealt with by the law that tattodfuckup highlighted. No loss of sight, I'd just moved on. Unless you're in the courtroom and know the specific details of the incident there's not much point in forming an opinion is there?

 

[mack]

You were being sarcastic towards tattoed werent you?

 

[tattoodguy]

Cayte lol.

I heard he was abused as a child and had no parenting skills and was very uneducated etc --- maybe not very much commonsense. Its a shame that a kid died, but we still need to be civil i dont think he deserves to die over it, although if the mum killed the dude she should be given also a very lenient sentence but its not up to our government to kill people.

I was making the point that by trying to create the system you guys want being hard on (all) voilent criminals alot of very decent people are going to end up in jail for even longer periods of time.

The laws we have now are bad enough, way to many innocent people are being put in jail without committing any crimes.

I dont know the exact circumstances, but in relation to all those shootings in sydney, if someone killed a family member and you go and kill that person, shouldnt u be shown a lot of leniency- from what i have read it seems the courts are determined to really throw the book at some of those people involved.

I know of a dude he got into a fight and he didnt start it, but he won the fight and took the guys phone and then he got in deep shit.

And another dude who bashed a guy who was trying to rob him and yeah he got a suspended sentence ie he was very close to being sent to jail for doing nothing wrong.

You know that saying its better to freee 100 guilty men than inprison one innocent one --- thats my mentality, with stricter rules etc more innocent people are going to have injustices commmitted against them by our shitty court system.

if people commit crimes on each other thats a shame, but yeah there is no excuse for the government to commit crimes against its citizens.

 

[400miles]

Cayte lol.

I heard he was abused as a child and had no parenting skills and was very uneducated etc --- maybe not very much commonsense. Its a shame that a kid died, but we still need to be civil i dont think he deserves to die over it, although if the mum killed the dude she should be given also a very lenient sentence but its not up to our government to kill people.

I was making the point that by trying to create the system you guys want being hard on (all) voilent criminals alot of very decent people are going to end up in jail for even longer periods of time.

Well those decent people probably should think more before using violence ahead of their decency.

The laws we have now are bad enough, way to many innocent people are being put in jail without committing any crimes.

I dont know the exact circumstances, but in relation to all those shootings in sydney, if someone killed a family member and you go and kill that person, shouldnt u be shown a lot of leniency- from what i have read it seems the courts are determined to really throw the book at some of those people involved.

Damn straight. It'd end up a catastrophe if everyone went around committing revenge killings and crimes and taking the law into our own hands and you'd have to be a fool not to see that.

I know of a dude he got into a fight and he didnt start it, but he won the fight and took the guys phone and then he got in deep shit.

I had to laugh when I saw this. I wasn't sure what point you were making. You win a fight you don't start allows you to commit a crime? You'd be a dickhead to steal someone's phone and then go 'oh but he tried to punch me man'. No offence but that dude you know of doesn't sound too smart.

And another dude who bashed a guy who was trying to rob him and yeah he got a suspended sentence ie he was very close to being sent to jail for doing nothing wrong.

How severely did he bash the guy?

You know that saying its better to freee 100 guilty men than inprison one innocent one --- thats my mentality, with stricter rules etc more innocent people are going to have injustices commmitted against them by our shitty court system.

if people commit crimes on each other thats a shame, but yeah there is no excuse for the government to commit crimes against its citizens.

I think that would be the most disastrous logic to be put into practice. There is already a huge amount of crime that cannot be controlled without making the law more leniant. I'd like you to explain to a victim of a serious crime that 'Hey, we're not going to prosecute the offender because you know too many innocent people go to jail, the law should be more leniant and hey, we're hungry and want lunch'.

 

[tattoodguy]

As far as you thinking its wrong to commit revenge -- you are wrong. We believe in punishing people etc, even our court system does so i dont really seee anything wrong with taking the law into your own hands. Even though, you are right that society would be out of hand - morallly there is nothing at all wrong with it. Im not saying under the law you have or should have the right to killl someone who killed a family member etc - im just saying that from a moral point of view nothing is wrong with that and the law should take that into account and impose lenient sentences.

In relation to the dudes in the shootings, so if someone killled a family member and shot at you and you go and kill that person. How long should u be put in jail.
Bearing in mind that these people might come and try to kill you again.

If our government can invade a country on the basis they might one day attack us, surely someone who has been shot at and had family members killed by a guy has a right to take action. And dont say he should tell the police, look at jeff fenech and plenty of other people who go to the police and there lives are still endangered. Alot of people get killed after going to the police and taking out AVO's.

The phone thing - i seee absolutely nothing wrong with that situation, if someone starts a fight with you - you should have the right to defend yourself and secondly you deserve a bit of compensation for the inconvenience or whatever.
That is perfectly fair. 100000000000000% fair.

The other dude who bashed the guy knocked the guy out and smashed all his face up. Which is perfectly fair, he needs to learn how to behave. If the police provided protection etc and did a decent job that situation wouldnt have happened. For the police to go and charge the guy i find appauling they should appologise to my mate and not charge him they are fucked.

I dont care about victims of crime etc most of them are just whingers. Who cares if they dont like the sentences they can go kill the people and get an even lighter sentence or they can go and cry in a corner.

My system is fair and moral, Your approach "who cares if a whole heap of innocent people go to jail, as long as the majority deserve it", is totally immoral.
Its easier to police etc, but easy isnt always best nor is it fair.

 

[Loz#1]

Seven years. Not enough in my opinion, but at least he's been put away. That's fucking callous.

 

[nerd2die4]

Yeah he has been put away but not for long. he could be out on parol in 18 months, how is that long enough for killing somebody. who cares if he is of low intellect, i dont see how that has anything to do with what he did.

 

[MariaM87]

I woulod just like to say that Sharee is my cousin and what happened was wrong on so manly levels, Dallas was a beautiful little boy who had the world ahead of him. That guy that killed him is out now he is roaming the streets just looking for his next vic. Dallas death left a hole in alot of hearts.

We will always love you dallas

 

[MariaM87]

I cant beleive how fucked up you people are sticking up for him your all a bunch of idots, our family will never be the same again. Yeah thats right Dallas mum is my cousin fuckwit you DONT KNOW SHIT about what happened. Its cause of idots like you he is out now so why dont you let him near your kids or neices and nephews then stick up for him.