Acid attack on a child

I agree with you Annie, the death penalty is a nono in my books.... However, some people make me think hard about it!

Apparently the intended victim was the child's mother and one of the attackers was his father. Mother and child now under police protection in a secret location. More to come out in this story.

I did think it was a family dispute because of the lack of news coverage . Frightening.

I’m not at all surprised by this outcome. It’s roughly what I expected.

Let’s hope this mother and her child can be kept safe. Acid attacks on women by, or initiated by, former partners are sadly not rare , especially in some communities. That is not a racist comment, it’s fact based, though sadly, acid attacks are an increasing crime.

It had the ring of a 'domestic' assault but you can never be certain. Hope that the child recovers both physically and mentally and the mother kept safe.

Sadly I am not in the slightest bit surprised. Poor little baby . Poor mum. What a way to live .

Yes, I thought family or drugs related.

It seems a bit strange that five men have been arrested. Why so many?

It has been reported the woman was an Afghan, hiding from her abusive husband and that the attack was meant for her. Apparently a photograph appeared of her not wearing a veil, so an "honour" attack maybe. Using acid to attack someone - especially women - appears to happening more frequently, there needs to be a new law specifically against it which carries a very heavy sentence.

Is it too much to hope that these men are deported, if/when found guilty. These are not values that a civilised society can condone, surely.

Absolutely Blinko! This is simply unacceptable.

Not that civilised, remembering the adults who attacked a police van taking two little boys to court, and how many women are killed in domestic abuse attacks. 2016 - 113 women murdered.

Agreed Blinko. Doubt it will happen though.

We shouldn't forget that in the UK, two women are killed every week by their partner/ex partner. (government figures 2017). The time they're most at risk is when they leave. That's one of the reasons so many women remain in abusive relationships. Their partner tells them if they do leave, they'll be hunted down and killed. Levels of violence and emotional control these women have experienced over long periods has them believing the threats (with good reason)

This woman was living in a safe house, which suggests the police and other agencies considered her to be in a very high risk category. The news today reports that the attack was carried out my men from the Roma community. The suggestion is that the father/ex partner discovered where the family were hiding after a photograph of one of his children at a school appeared in a news paper . He then paid the men to carry out an acid attack on his ex partner, the attack went wrong and the child was injured.

Its horrific, anyone who has worked with victims of domestic abuse will know of similarly dreadful situations. Let's hope this woman and her children can be safely re-housed, try once again to rebuild their lives and achieve a degree of calm.

The first man arrested was described by eye witnesses as tall, thin, white.

He was Annie - the papers this morning are saying Roma community. I hope I'm not spreading fake news

Thank you Iam, so possibly not a honour attack .

True, ab. We do not live in a perfect world. However the cases you cite are not condoned by society at large.

This and other domestic abuse cases do raise the issue of what makes any man (ok, and some women) go to such lengths to establish violent control. We need to address that, as a society. The perpetrators need to be studied and reasons for their behaviour deconstructed to seek solutions. Doubt whether this is happening.

They are not condoned Blinko but they do take place in our society

Blinko I am sure there are studies. Probably what got law changed to recognise emotional control/ abuse as part of domestic violence

Agreed, PECS. I think we need to go further to try and identify character traits so people are aware what to look for in a prospective partner, before it gets to the stage of serious harm and/or murder.

I doubt identifying character traits would make much difference. A woman, perhaps lonely, meets a chap,is attracted to him, things develope, they are not going to look for character traits at the start of the relationship. There are women who allowed their children suffer abuse rather leave the man too.

Annie - I think the Afghan husband hired the Eastern European me to carry out the attack. I think all 4 should be deported - after a prison! (preferably breaking rocks!)