Man Puts Baby in Freezer

I've just watched a story on this, first I've heard of it, on my local news. I've been searching the net to find a link to the story, to bring it to ATS.

Here we are:

Baby in freezer trial concludes

The trial of Derrick Hardy, charged with unlawful confinement and assault causing bodily harm for putting a baby in a freezer, concluded Friday in Summerside.

The defence declined to call any witnesses, so both the Crown and the defence offered up summations.

Crown attorney John Diamond addressed Hardy's contention that he put the baby in the freezer last May in order to cool down a sudden fever. He called Hardy's actions "bizarre," and told the judge it showed "wanton and reckless disregard" for the baby's safety.

He said if the baby really did have a fever, Hardy should've considered the logical options of calling 911, giving the baby medicine, or putting her in the bathtub to cool her down.

Instead, Diamond points out, Hardy opted to put her in a freezer, leaving her with first- and second-degree frostbite, and a bruise on her wrist from being "abruptly picked up."

www.cbc.ca... rdy-trail.html

Defense chose not to call any witnesses. Wonder why?

Their defense is that the child had a fever, and daddy of the year jumped to the rescue by placing the baby in the freezer. Makes you wonder. As ridiculous as this defense is, the fact the child has a bruise on her wrist from being jolted from the freezer, indicates the lack of regard for the child. It is bad enough to place the child in the freezer, but grant it he makes an effort on this defense. But if the child's best intentions were at heart, why would he grab the little girl by her hand and yank her out of the freezer?

So many things come to mind after reading this article.

He argued if the judge found Hardy guilty of "unlawful confinement," all parents who keep their babies in cribs, or tuck in their kids at night, would be guilty of the same thing.

The defense attorney scares me just as much as the accused. He compares placing the child in the freezer as any other parent placing a child in a crib. How does this guy sleep at night?

The case has been difficult for the family to sit through. The baby's grandfather told CBC News Hardy never liked the baby. He said the girl is 16 months old now, and doing fine.

Glad to hear the little girl is doing fine these days, and hopefully her father is kept from her for a long, long time.

The controversy that this thread and title contains, it is sure to spark plenty of emotions from our members. But if at all possible, could we not fill this thread with calls for the execution of this man. He is a despicable person and a worse father, but calls for his execution do nothing for the thread. If at all possible, I would truly appreciate it.

To conclude, we should receive a verdict next Friday. So it will be quite interesting to discuss the issue and validate different punishments, then see what the courts decided.

Let's have at it.

That's just sickening. What a disgusting excuse of a human!


I say we stick him in a freezer.

Originally posted by chissler
...charged with unlawful confinement and assault causing bodily harm for putting a baby in a freezer...

WTF? This seems like a no-brainer attempted murder case to me!

Originally posted by djohnsto77
This seems like a no-brainer attempted murder case to me!

I can certainly see where this case could be made. I would be interested to see how long the child was actually in the freezer for. The duration here would be the deciding factor for myself. It was long enough for the child to suffer first and second degree frost bite, so it wasn't exactly an in and out trip.

The charges brought against the accused here, are not overly stiff. Unlawful confinement and Assault causing bodily harm, what sort of punishment would these charges carry?

Surely it is going to send him up for a minimum of five years. Anyone have any information they could add to the individual crimes and the punishments they carry.

Wow. What a nut.

The girl will probably never like cold, dark, cramped places much.

But in all honesty the man should be locked up and never allowed to see the child again. Then, because of his stupidity he should have to take psychological treatment and see a councillor of some kind. Oh. And be sterilized.

The defense attorney should be beaten in the streets. I hate defense attorneys!!!! .. scum of the earth and often worse then the murderers and rapist.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
The defense attorney should be beaten in the streets. I hate defense attorneys!!!! .. scum of the earth and often worse then the murderers and rapist.

Don't take it out on the defense attorneys, they are absolutely necessary to our adversarial court system. Innocent people are charged often and need their services for justice to e carried out.

Take it out on the prosecutors, judges (and sometimes juries) that sometimes allow things like this to happen.

Rockpuck, it must of been tough to not condemn this guy to hell. Great job on restraining yourself.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Take it out on the prosecutors, judges (and sometimes juries) that sometimes allow things like this to happen.

I'm confused why you feel the defense attorneys are essential, while the prosecutors, judges and sometimes juries are completely expendable. I think all are crucial, and we depend on them heavily. Each probably have their crooked, but thats life.

I agree with Rockpuck, that this defense attorney must have trouble sleeping at night. However, it is his job to do his damnedest to defend this man. As sick, disturbing, and guilty as he may be, it is his job to defend him. When we have defense attorneys picking and choosing whom they are going to defend, we will begin to send more innocent men to prison.

Originally posted by chissler
I'm confused why you feel the defense attorneys are essential, while the prosecutors, judges and sometimes juries are completely expendable.

I didn't say they were expendable, I just meant it's usually their fault if too light of a punishment is given, not the fault of the defense attorneys. It's the job of the defense attorneys to do best for their client while it's the job of judges and prosecutors to make sure justice is done.

[edit on 11/24/2006 by djohnsto77]

Okay,what the guy did is very sick and I don't think that he should be allowed to ever see his daughter again.

Normally I would be calling for this guy's head on a platter,but I am trying to talk my emotions down here. What really gets me is that there are actually people who will try to rationalize or justify this man's actions!! There is no rationalization or justification for what the man did. However,that is the culture we live in today. :shk: "Let's justify the unjustifiable.Let's try to see it from the victimizer's point of view. Let's try and understand why he did it." :shk: Ridiculous.

I don't think there should be some kind of mob justice against this man,although that would be fitting,but I certainly do not think he should ever be allowed to have contact with his daughter. EVER!!



[edit on 24-11-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
I just meant it's usually their fault if too light of a punishment is given, not the fault of the defense attorneys.

Yeah but it is the fault of the defense attorneys when some innocent men go up the line. Not all, but some, go up when their defense attorneys do not do the job they were assigned.

Our system is based on all components working as hard as they can, to assure that justice will be done.

There is a difference between a defense attorny who knows his man is innocent.. between a defense attorny who knows he killed (like oj!) or knows he put his baby in the freezer, or knows that he is not really sick, or knows that he will get out and kill again but will still negotiate a lower sentance.

We can condemn the man and basicly sentence him online but the simple matter is we don't have all the facts.

Did the father have an IQ of 75? If the child had a fever and he was an imbecile it would explain allot as to why he did what he did.

I raised three children and I can honestly say I never once considered sticking them in the freezer. (Shipping them off to boarding school is another matter)

What this man did was wrong, but until I know more about the circumstances i'll with hold judgement.

Things are not always as they appear.

Just my thoughts on it.

Don't they have child abuse charges in Canada?

Here in New Mexico, he would have been charged with child abuse with great bodily harm and would be sentenced to prison for quite a long time, barring any mitigating circumstances, such as low IQ, etc.

Packing people in ice is one means of lowering body temperature, but clearly the next step would be to contact medical providers.

Leaving the child in the freezer long enough to suffer from frostbite doesn't really show a whole lot of concern for the child's well-being, however.

I suppose if the child was "burning up" with fever, it could be argued that he was trying to bring the fever down. However, since he left the child in there long enough to get frost bite, I think his actions are very questionable.

Well the article states that the trial has concluded. If the man was handicap or incapable of understanding his actions, I am sure this would of been raised long before the trial began. So the fact this case has concluded, and nothing has been mentioned, leads me to believe this man is completely fit to stand trial and suffer the consequences of his actions.

What does everyone think of the defense? If they charge his client with unlawful confinement, then every other parent should be charged with it for placing their child in a crib. Kudos for the creativity, but how inhumane is that. I am sure when this case finally concludes, he'll take a long shower to cleanse himself.

We should expect a verdict in six days.

This reminds me of some certain puppy in some certain oven.

Whats with people and attempting to murder via temperature change!??

Very, very, disheartening.

I'm interested to see what sort of punishment the judge hands out. We should expect a verdict in the next two days.

People like this sicken me. Castration should be a legal form of punishment along with doing exactly what they did to the innocent child; not to add to everyone's disgust, but this story from here in the States is even worse...
Mom Charged in Baby's Microwaving Death

Originally posted by AHCivilE
Castration should be a legal form of punishment along with doing exactly what they did to the innocent child.

If it is illegal for them to do it, why would it be legal for us? If it sickens you that he had done this to another life, why would you condone allowing it to happen to him? An eye for an eye, will leave us all blind. Ghandi said that, good quote.

This man should face many years behind bars, nothing more. He should not be castrated, he should not be executed, and he should not be put in a freezer himself, he should face the punishment that our system has set out for him.

Little children are COMPLETELY DEFENSELESS; I do condone castration of people who have grossly abused their parental rights (I am not saying that it should be brutal, but it should be done). An eye for an eye in punishment is generally extreme, but abusing a defenseless child to this point is, in my opinion, the most severe crime against humanity and needs to be discouraged to the fullest extent. Considering people here in the states can drop off an unwanted young-child at an civil-service center (i.e. a fire department, hospital, police station), this kind of violence deserves the harshest penalty so that people are completely discouraged. Once you commit a crime this cruel and unusual, you should have forfeited your right to cushy jail time we seem to think everyone deserves. What will this lady get? 4-5 years maybe 10. It just is not justice to a little child who had her whole life before her stolen away in a horrific, inhuman manner. Where is justice anymore?