The Houston woman who was captured on videotape beating her child in an Indiana parking lot will turn herself into police today. She will then be taken out back, stipped naked, covered in honey, and staked to a fire ant bed in the hot Texas sun. Frankly, that's more human that what most of us would come up with for a punishment.
A woman seen beating her 4-year-old daughter on a department store surveillance video tape in Indiana will turn herself in to authorities today, said a Houston lawyer who is representing her.
Steven "Rocket" Rosen said Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 26, is "very remorseful and very regretful" about the incident in Mishawaka, Ind., where Toogood will report to authorities.
Rosen didn't defend the woman's actions, but said it doesn't represent her entire life.
"Ten seconds of your life really doesn't give the true picture, up close and personal, of who you are," Rosen said. "Hopefully, I can get that out."
The little girl, named Martha, has been examined by physicians and given a clean bill of health since the incident, Rosen said.
Rosen confirmed that Toogood grew up as part of a group of Texas-based Irish Travellers, itinerate laborers who often make their living with home-improvement and business-repair work, such as paving, painting and roofing.
They are descendants of a nomadic ethnic group that came to the United States in the 1800s to escape the potato famine, roaming the country by horse and wagon in search of work. They are devout Roman Catholics who share biblical names, marry within the group and speak their own dialect.
The video, broadcast nationwide, showed the woman placing her daughter onto the back seat of a sport utility vehicle in the parking lot of a Kohl's store, then pummeling, slapping and shaking the girl for several seconds.
The Sept. 13 episode happened after the woman left the store angry over being refused a cash refund, authorities said.
You know, we all get angry. Most of us, however, recognize appropriate vs. inappropriate ways of venting that anger. Physically abusing a small child out of your own frustration is so far beyond inappropriate, I'm not even sure WHAT to call it.
Yes, the city that gave you Andrea Yates presents yet another argument for those who feel that being a parent should require a license (it's a privilege and NOT a right). It has always disturbed me that one needs a license to hunt, fish, drive a car, run a business, etc., but anyone with functional genitalia can be a parent. I would never advocate eugenics, but there are times like this when it almost seems a palatable option.
