How many more children like Sara Sharif will be killed before smacking is banned? | Catherine Bennett
Labour should not dither – it is time for England to follow the example set by Scotland and Wales
Broadcasters have, understandably enough, been adding content warnings to reports about Sara Sharif, the 10-year-old girl who allegedly died at the hands of her father, stepmother and uncle, after two years of abuse.
“This article features details that some people might find distressing” is the BBC’s slightly strange way of putting it, as if significant numbers of people are undistressed by reading about the horrific injuries found, an Old Bailey jury has heard, on the child’s body. And also by the evidence, sickening in its implications, that neighbours heard disturbing noises but did not report them. And by another disquieting detail, from a phone call said by the prosecution to have been made to the emergency services by Sara’s father. “I legally punished her, and she died,’’ he is alleged to have said.
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World - The Guardian
Ban smacking in England now, says children’s commissioner
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