The below video is from CNN, but this story has been all over in local news down here, a young mother from Kenner tossing her baby into Lake Pontchartrain. Kenner is part of the metropolitian New Orleans-Metarie-Kenner area."Ciara Monique Craig, 20, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of her infant daughter," reports WDSU. WWL TV has a longer story, and posted Craig's picture, which you see here. According to WWL, the mother is 21 not 20.
Craig told police that she had received counseling about the pregnancy.Look at her. She's somebody's baby herself. Per a local news source, her mother convinced her to turn herself in.
“She had spoke with some health care officials at some point before, during her pregnancy to see what options she (had)," Caraway said. "She actually considered abortion, (but) she was too far along, I believe is what she said. And when that wasn't an option, she tried to conceal the pregnancy from her family.” (WWL TV)
The police spokesperson on the CNN video said that it was a beautiful healthy baby and there's no justification for it. True, there's no justification for it in the mind of a sane person. Does Craig look rational to you? If that photo was taken at the station following her surrender, I'm going with no, not sane at all.
Perhaps depression is at play here or some other mental stress disorder. She decided to kill the child rather than face her parents. I wonder what's going through their minds now other than unplugged grief.
The newborn's murder has caused activists to conclude that Louisiana's Safe Haven law, a provision that allows distressed mothers to abandon their newborns without penalty, is not well-publicized. Safe Haven laws were back in the news last hear when Nebraska had a rash of harried parents abandoning much older children. It was then that I learned of Lousiana's Safe Haven Law.
Perhaps if Craig had known about the law and that she could leave the baby at a safe haven spot without being arrested, she would have done so. But I'm thinking safe haven laws are for the rational mother, not an unbalanced woman afraid of her parents.
Craig tossed the baby into the lake in front of witnesses. Clearly something's amiss in her mind.
Here's video from The Times Picayune.
| Kenner Police Annouce Arrest in Case of Newborn Thrown in Lake |
In keeping with theme of this blog, I should offer a prayer or meditation now. Words escape me. However, I have old poetry about child abuse. I'll return to this tragedy later after hours of meditation.
May God have mercy on this young woman. It is obvious that she was not rational. Nor did she seem to realize that there were alternatives that were available to her.
ReplyDeleteWhat a tragedy for this family.
My heart is heavy when I think how easily someone could have stepped in and helped this young woman at some point along the way. I doubt she knew about safe haven.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why didn't she feel she could go to her family, or her teachers or someone and get help? I have a lot of questions because she went to a good Catholic girls school and was brought up in the church. Do our schools and churches so alienate women? I wonder if she had any knowledge at all about how to protect herself as an adult woman who might reasonably want to go out to a party or on a date.
We don't even know that she wasn't taken advantage of. Did she think no one would ever forgive her once they found out she had had sex and so was desperate? Was her tragic decision motivated by such fear of disgracing her family that she couldn't weigh one transgression as more serious than another?
I don't think this woman is cunning or cold. I think she has tragically been kept in the dark about a lot of things she needed to know. And for that, there is plenty of blame to go around.