Columnist: The Tracy we never knew
March 8th, 2008Writing in the [Toronto] Star, columnist Helen Henderson contests the popular view that Tracy Latimer’s life was full of misery and not worth living. That portrayal, she says, was promoted by the defense team of Tracy’s father, Robert Latimer, in an unsuccessful effort to turn away a murder conviction.
Latimer was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death fifteen years ago of his daughter, who had cerebral palsy. Latimer has now been released on day parole and is seeking to clear his name.
An excerpt:
I have no doubt Robert Latimer loved his daughter. I have no doubt that, like the parents of any severely disabled child, he sometimes felt very alone.
I also have no doubt that Tracy Latimer is a victim twice over – once of murder and once of the injustice served by a society that can’t see beyond the surface of disabilities and won’t invest the resources that families need to nourish children who don’t communicate or move or process information like the majority.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 5:50 am and is filed under cerebral palsy, criminal justice, international, mercy killing.
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