by LFC2007 » Wed Jul 25, 2007 5:47 pm
Again, I will point out that it doesn't take a genius to work out that beating a toddler to death is evil and wrong. They were clever enough to play truant, shoplift and not get caught and lure a child from under his mother's nose.
It doesn't require an in depth knowledge of the English legal system in order to work out 'how wrong' the act they were committing was. It wasn't one strike to the head, it was the systematic mutilation of a child. I think they realised exactly 'how wrong' what they were doing was, and even if slightly less than what an adult would realise, they were fully aware that beating a child PERSISTENTLY until they were mutilated was entirely wrong.
Had it been one strike to the head on a whim of anger then you may have a case, but the fact that it was a systematic mutilation suggests strongly otherwise.