Late Nights

 This getting up at all hours of the morning is for the birds. Hell, even they aren't up yet. One of the joys of being me.

All is pretty good here. Everyone's healthy, fed, roof over their heads, more things than they know what to do with. Very fortunate.

I see all the people from Ukraine with their meagre belongings. Carrying their children and pets. Trying anything to get out of the war zone. The Russians had a little cease fire when they told the Ukrainians they could send their civilians out. It was very short lived; the Russians attacked the civilians and many were killed and wounded. I ask myself how someone could shoot another person, let alone a small child. How do you do that???

Speaking of killing people, what of Damien Starrett? On trial for killing his one year old baby, and assaulting his then 5 year old daughter by punching her three times in the head. His defence is that he had changed sleeping pills and was incoherent when the murder occurred. Damien's going to take the stand in his own defence. His lawyer is also calling a sleep disorder expert. Damien's partner and his now 7 year old daughter both testified for the prosecution. I cannot imagine how much he broke that little girl who watched him kill her baby brother. I hope she will be able to get through this with love and counselling, and that she isn't too damaged. What Damien and his lawyer are doing is trying to get him off without fault. He's admitted to killing Ares, but he wasn't 'criminally responsible' because of the medication. He wants to go to Alberta Hospital instead of jail. I'd like to say he would be dealt with more appropriately by the other inmates and patients, however he'll likely be put into protective custody. So far as I'm concerned, he shouldn't be breathing, let alone able to pretend to be nuts so he can avoid jail time. Such a heinous crime that will result in Damien getting absolutely nothing of what he deserves. His actions took a life. He should be dealt with the same. To quote CBC,

"In his opening statement, defence lawyer Rory Ziv told the jury his client admits to killing his son, but said it happened while he was in an automaton-like sleep state.

The accused saw more than two dozen doctors over 28 times for debilitating back pain and sleep-related problems and that he was self-medicating with opioids.

[Ashton] Bishop acknowledged her partner had back problems on and off for years, but she attributed the back pain to drug withdrawal. 

Before she finished testifying, Bishop blurted, "My mom always thought it would end in murder-suicide."

Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Henderson asked the jury to ignore Bishop's final statement."

Self-medicating with opioids. I would say there's a much higher likelihood that Damien was either doing the opioids or was coming down. How was he doing them, also? Was he taking them as prescribed (obviously not because he was self-medicating) or was he snorting them or injecting them.

Ashton's mom thought it would end differently. If Ashton was home, things would've turned out differently. She either would've been able to get the children out of the house and get away, or Damien would've done much worse. Regardless, the worst has been done. I feel empathy for Ashton and her daughter; there's no way I can even imagine what each day must be like for them.

If you are in a family violence situation, there are resources to help you. I know that everything is great when it's written down telling you what to do, but living the situation is much different. We'll never know what Ashton and the children went through living with that monster. They will safe so long as Damien is locked up for a very long time in JAIL, not some stupid mental institution where he'll be let out in a few years.

FFS