In Melbourne this morning, a dad travelling in a 4WD across Westgate Bridge (notorious for collapsing during construction in the early '70’s) with his three kids, stopped and threw his four year old daughter off the bridge to her (later) death.
No outrage, just complete sadness for the family AND the dad, who has since been charged with murder. At this juncture, the police have been unable to interview him because his mental condition is such that it would be impossible.
This is the first thing I thought of - what must those kids be dealing with, and have to deal with in the future? When you’re a kid, your parents are the primary influences in your life, and seeing your dad literally “throw away” your sister… I can’t even imagine. Survivor guilt, panic attacks, issues with ‘father figures’? Awful.
I’d prefer to think this was just a sign of enhanced media coverage, than a sign of the times. As depressing as it would be studying the frequency of this type of unimaginable crime, I’m sure it would reveal that these events are extremely rare indeed. How much they’d need to increase for us to really have to start worrying, I’ll leave to a statistician.
