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28/09/01 - Victoria failed
by 'defective' British system
Helen William
Birmingham Post
The parents of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie,
killed in one of Britain' s most horrific child abuse
cases, yesterday spoke of their 'shock and anger' at the
failure of those in authority to help her.
In a statement read out on the second day of the public
inquiry into Victoria's death, Francis and Berthe Climbie
made a damning analysis of the standards of child protection
in Britain.
At the time of her death in February 2000, Victoria
had 128 separate injuries on her body after being neglected
and tortured.
Marie Therese Kouao (44), Victoria's great aunt who
had been looking after the child, and Kouao's boyfriend
Carl Manning (28) were jailed for life in January this
year for murder.
The pair acted together to cover up their abuse of
Victoria but a series of professional errors and omission
meant vital clues were not picked up, the inquiry in
London was told.
The potential cause of Victoria's injuries were not
identified despite her being admitted to hospital on
several occasions in the summer of 1999, just months
before her death in February 2000.
'Victoria's death was contributed to by professional
shortcomings on the part of individuals, social services,
and personnel which had the consequence that Kouao and
Manning were able to continue to abuse Victoria until
she died,' her parents said in thestatement.
The statement added: 'Not only were far more individuals
on far more occasions involved in the series of errors
and omissions which contributed to Victoria's abuse,
neglect and death, but also there were far more deep-rooted
and wide-ranging problemsthan they had supposed in the
child protection systems in Britain, sophisticated as
they may have seemed by comparison with anything that
exists in the Ivory Coast.
'Mr and Mrs Climbie now realise that very probably
those systems are themselves defective in many respects.'
The couple said they were alarmed professionals seemed
to fail to be able to spot the 'obviously abnormal relationship'
between Victorian and Kouao which involved Victoria
jumping whenever Kouao entered the room.
They added in their statement: 'They doubt whether
this difficulty would have arisen had Victoria been
a British child, whether black or white.
'They think it demonstrates an unthinking assumption
of racial or cultural differences where none exist and
which must be capable of remedy.'
The inquiry, set up to find out not only why Victoria
died but to make recommendations about how to protect
other children, heard how she was made to sleep naked
in a bath, without blankets or heating, and with her
arms and legs bound with masking tape.She was put in
a black plastic sack and forced to lie in her own excrement
and urine.
Victoria was assaulted repeatedly by Kouao and hit
with a bicycle chain by Manning.
She was also fed as a dog by having her face pushed
into a plate while she was tied up in the bath.
The hearing continues today. |
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