Sandra Lean (Today)
Today's "Questions the Police need to answer" got me thinking. The point was made that Luke was taken to the police station and everything that was done was done, without anyone ever checking if he was OK (or, at least, as OK as it would ever be possible to be in those circumstances) - the only doctor brought in that night was one whose task it was to find any evidence to suggest that Luke might have been involved in Jodi's murder.
But, we should have been able to breathe a little easier when we discovered that a psychologist had been brought in for the 4th July interrogation - at least then, there was someone to assess the psychological carnage already inflicted on Luke, not just by the finding of Jodi's body, but by his treatment in the three full days since.
Not so. That psychologist did not speak with Luke or any member of his family. He did not consider how events since the night of 30th June might be impacting on them. He did not even consider that Luke might need to speak to someone, just to process some of the horror. Nope, he was there to assess whether Luke, if he was the killer, was likely to "do it again."
And it gets even worse. This "expert" (who should be struck off, in my opinion), without speaking to Luke or carrying out any psychological evaluation whatsoever, advised that "in line with goth culture" there was a chance that Luke could "seriously self harm" or "re-offend." Note that second word - RE- offend - as in, the assumption being he'd already offended. So, what did the police do with that information?
They subjected Luke to another 6 hour interrogation, after which they claim to have suggested that his parents "might want to keep an eye on him." What??? If they believed Luke was Jodi's killer and their own "expert" warned them he was likely to "re-offend," why on earth would they just let him walk out the door with a word to his parents to "keep an eye on him"?
The whole thing is beyond disgusting. To this day, Luke has had no help in processing what happened in that first week. That's how we treat children in this country.
“Luke Mitchell is a person without feeling or emotion. I witnessed this on the day I went to his house (after the discovery of Jodi's body)
"He stood there like a stick of rock, did not show any emotion at all whilst I tried to cuddle him and give him comfort”
“You are all a bunch of cyber court bullies. Shame on you all for your defamation of my baby” JuJ