Justice lacking for the most innocent

One type of crime I particularly cannot stand is offending against children.

And taking the life of a child - whether it's murder or violent manslaughter - is unforgivable. It is the ultimate outrage and must be punished with the full force of the law.

But the law is pathetically lame when it comes to decent punishment for animals who hurt kids.

I often wonder when I read these sad cases what life the child would have fulfilled had it not been cut tragically short. These child victims never deserve what they get; their abusers always deserve more than what they get.

There is a long line of child killers and abusers in our country and the names of their victims are seared into my mind. Names such as Nia Glassie and James Whakaruru.

I can remember covering one case in February 2001 when I was at The New Zealand Herald.

A deranged Auckland woman, Sipea Leuta, smacked her 5-year-old boy - but just couldn't stop there. She then got a vehicle fan belt and an aerial wire from the garage and whipped him at least 165 times - and killed him.

I felt like vomiting when the police detective showed me a picture of the little boy before he was attacked. His face was one of innocence and promise.

Interestingly, the High Court judge who sentenced Leuta to six years behind bars commented that he thought the country's sentencing laws around child killings were out of kilter with other crimes, such as rape.

Justice John Priestley said in March 2001 the system did not permit sentences to be handed out on personal whims and regard must be had for sentences in comparable cases and guidelines set by the Court of Appeal.

Now, another case is in the media spotlight - that of Western Bay toddler Melissa Sale.

Melissa was just 14 months old when she died at the hands of foster mother Karen Robinson in Paengaroa, in 2006.

The toddler died from severe brain injuries as a result of being shaken. Robinson told emergency workers Melissa fell over and banged her head.

A High Court jury in Rotorua did not believe her and found her guilty of manslaughter in 2009. The sentencing judge put her away for six years and six months - another flimsy sentence.

But this sorry tale doesn't end there. Robinson appealed the sentence and this week got a discount.

The sentencing judge had already taken a year off for Robinson's mental health issues and because she had her left leg amputated below the knee after a motorcycle crash, and felt remorse.

But hang on, Robinson's mental difficulties emerged after Melissa Sale died. And so what if she has a bit of hardship in jail because she's missing part of a leg. Any hardship she has pales when compared to her crime.

And, generally speaking, remorse is easy to trot out if it's going to get you a lighter sentence.

The Court of Appeal also considered her suffering in the nearly four years between Melissa's death and her sentencing "warranted a significantly greater discount than the judge allowed".

This case raises serious concerns about the state of our justice system. Too much weight is being given to remorse and other mitigating factors and rigid sentencing rules and precedence. Things have to change.

What about the innocent victims? Justice has far from been done for little Melissa.