Every now and then we come across news stories that just make our blood boil. No wonder there are people out there who choose to block out news channels, either out of disdain for the media or indifference to the bad news that dominate the headlines. But every now then we are shocked to our senses by stories like this:
Woman: Blame devil for infant in microwave
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - A woman blames the devil, and not her husband, for severely burning their infant daughter in a microwave, a Texas television station reported.
Eva Marie Mauldin said Satan compelled her 19-year-old husband, Joshua Royce Mauldin, to microwave their daughter May 10 because the devil disapproved of Joshua's efforts to become a preacher.
"Satan saw my husband as a threat," Eva Mauldin told Houston television station KHOU-TV.
A grand jury indicted Joshua Mauldin last week on child injury charges after hearing evidence that he placed the two-month-old in a motel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds.
The infant, Ana Marie, remains hospitalized. She suffered burns on the left side of her face and to her left hand, police said.
Police said Joshua Mauldin told them he put Ana Marie in the microwave because he was under stress. Eva Maudlin denied it.
"He would never do anything to hurt her. He loves her," she said.
She is hoping to be reunited with her daughter, but Child Protective Services is working to have the parental rights severed.
Again, what is wrong with us? I started out in the media as a cub reporter who had to follow what newsrooms term as routine police stories, aka holdups, stabbing incidents, road mishaps. Even after all those years of being on the beat, it's hard to get desensitized by the brutality and absurdity of life. When I read the article on the "microwaved baby," I was enraged. Enraged because it reminded me of the time I saw a newborn stuffed in a gym bag conveniently left by the mother at a department store. We are so vicious when we cross the line that separates us from savage beasts.
Posted by fleur at May 23, 2007 03:30 AM