Inclusion Daily Express -- Judge Lets Two More Murdering Parents Walk Free

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Judge Lets Two More Murdering Parents Walk Free
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 4, 2007

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--Saying there would be no community interest in making them spend time in jail, Supreme Court Justice Graham Barr has let free a couple that admitted murdering their 28-year-old son.

Margaret Ellen Sutton, 60, and Raymond Douglas Sutton, 63, had faced possible sentences of 25 years in prison for killing their son Matthew, who was blind and had intellectual disabilities.

The Suttons had confessed to killing Matthew in April 2001, the day before he was scheduled to have surgery to treat an ear infection. Doctors had told them the surgery would cause him to lose his hearing for at least three weeks.

The Suttons did not explain exactly how they murdered Matthew.

Upon releasing the pair on five-year "good behavior bonds" -- which is similar to probation -- Justice Barr said Wednesday that he could not give any punishment that would add to the suffering they were already experiencing.

"The offenders decided that the only thing they could do was protect Matthew from a future life without sensation by bringing his life to an end," he said.

Mrs. Sutton's lawyer, Tony Belanto, told ABC News that the couple had been living with "stress, depression, hardship" for more 30 years and "they want to get on with their life."

The Brisbane Times quoted Helena O'Connell, the head of the New South Wales Council for Intellectual Disability, as saying it was "a very sad day for people with intellectual disability when something like this occurs".

The Sutton case is similar in some respects to that of Daniela Dawes, a fellow Sydney resident who admitted smothering to death her 10-year-old son Jason, who had autism, on August 4, 2003.

Like the Suttons, Ms. Dawes was released in June 2004 on a five-year good behavior bond after being convicted on a reduced charge of manslaughter. Upon sentencing, the judge said Dawes "had suffered enough" and that no sentence he could give would compare to the punishment she would continue to inflict upon herself.

Related:
"Too 'cruel' to jail pair for killing son" (Brisbane Times)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/07/red/0404a.htm
"Daniela Dawes: Mom Confessed To Suffocating Son, 10" (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/crime/dawes.htm

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