Lack of Justice and Sense

Maureen Faibish locked her son in the basement because she feared he might be in danger from her pet pit bulls.

Nicholas, aged 12, managed to circumvent her barricade, emerged from the basement, and was subsequently killed by one or both dogs.

A child was locked in a basement while dangerous dogs had the run of the house. A mother locked her child in a basement because she knew her dogs were dangerous. Why didn't Mom lock the dogs in the basement and keep the key with her? Why didn't Mom send Nicholas somewhere else or keep him with her if she was afraid to leave him alone with the dogs?

Fast-reverse on the old VCR here, even though VCR's hadn't even been thought of when I was twelve. Our dog, Raggs, was never a danger to us. She was my companion, my insurance policy, my pal. We played, and she roamed with me. My parents never had to worry about leaving my sister or me alone with her. And in addition, my parents never locked us in the basement. For any reason.

"And I told him, [Faibish said] `Stay down there until I come back.' Typical Nicky, he wouldn't listen to me.”

A twelve-year-old with any kind of average sense knows that kids should not be locked in a basement. I knew that when I was twelve. Hell, I knew that when I was six. "lock children in a basement=nutcase" Yes, I knew that.

If M. Faibish suspected that the dogs were dangerous, and so felt compelled to lock the child in the basement... IF SHE SUSPECTED THE DOGS WOULD HARM THE CHILD SHE LEFT ALONE WITH THEM ... how is she innocent of negligence? Of manslaughter?

“It's Nicky's time to go,” she said. “When you're born you're destined to go and this was his time.”

Too fucking bad for Nicky that the dogs' time to go wasn't before his. He might have grown up to be an adult who didn't like the idea of locking his kids in the basement.

And just a gruesome aside, for all those people who think Nicholas' death was a fluke: have you ever seen a little terrier kill a rat? No? They shake it until it's in pieces. Consider that Staffordshire Bull Terriers aka Pit Bulls, weigh about 40 pounds, or in the trade of disreputable breeders, can weigh up to 60 pounds. All terriers are bred to kill things. Rats, mice, rabbits, foxes, groundhogs. It's what they do, from the genes out. What is a 40 pound terrier bred to kill? No, really, what? Chickens? Wolves? Bicycles? How about anything that gets in their way?