Mother sets fire to daughter's rapist!

I can see both sides of it. On the one hand, if I had a child and someone did that, I am sure that I would want justice too. Plus, to have the guy laugh in my face about it, is enough to push anyone over the edge.

On the other hand, if they let her off, what will they do when another person takes the law into his/her own hands? It could set a very bad precedent when the next person decides to kill or maim in the name of justice, and they too would have to be let off.

Why does Queen's "Another one bites the dust" keep running through my head?

Seriously though, she absolutely did the right thing - what every parent should do in the same circumstances. Monsters like that man should consider every day they're alive and behind bars an undeserved gift. Maybe if they knew there were rammifications to their actions besides a nice bunk and 3 square meals a day they'd think twice about attacking people.

But, as Mousebounce brings up, it sets a precedent. Were does the line get drawn between well-deserved punishment and petty revenge? Like the Supreme Court judge said about pornography "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it." Same thing here.

Adrian

I'm torn on this one. It's hard to fault a mother for killing a man who raped her child. But he was already convicted and punished according to the law--not that it did any good. But we can't just take the law into our own hands. There's a level of premeditation in what she did. She had to go out and buy the gas and come back and find him.

Sad situation. It's a cruel way to go, but what he did was cruel too. Neither of them were right. My sympathy lies with the mother, but she wasn't justified for what she did.

Becky

You know what? I take that back. My sympathy lies with the child. She went through hell being raped. She went through hell with a trial. Now her mother will probably spend the rest of her life institutionalized. She's the one who has lost out. Odds are that child will blame herself and think that she never should have told anyone so it would not have come to this. She's gotten the worse end of this on all counts.

Becky

you are probably right.....

comepletely agree with you on this one.
Though the dude who raped her deserved it, It maybe was to much, I would have cut his d!ck off, and have him live the rest of his life like that.

Yeah, I agree with you. I can see where all her rage is coming from but being a rational person involves controlling and handling it. If she knew who he was and where to find him I would have gone straight to the nearest police station and let them deal with it. The damage to her daughter was already done and I don't think seeing her mother like this is helping the poor child at all.

You mean you would be angry or disappointed at your parents if they didn't do that in case one of their children had to go through that?!

Gee, I try to step into that poor girl's shoes and I can only see myself wishing my mum had remained with me or phoned the police. I wouldn't want my mother's hands bloodstained

well, yes of course ... but that is why she is in the mental ward right now. She obviously isn't rational, or wasn't at that moment.

Another perspective: Not only did he **** up the child for life, but the mother too - obviously.

Yes, but what I meant by that is that I don't agree with her reaction either. I don't think what she did was right at all. If you're rational you must *think* before you act. I guess she went mad at that moment - you can't really guess how you would act if something like that happened to your child, of course.