Well! The latest news says that the case is closed, Cazaly attacked Abigail. I hope they are right.

I also hear that Abigail has had an interim payment of £250,000 and is likely to get the maximum of £500,000 - bully for her - my friend still gets NOTHING.

I hope that the case is now "closed" yet I cannot help but think that "Hello" magazine or "OK" magazine are waiting in the wings ready to print the pictures of "beautiful mother with beautiful baby."

As a mother, I too think my children are beautiful - likewise they think that of me. Yet the media have fed us for 7 months to believe that this is the ONLY beautiful family. I am not convinced.

Normal no ; Abnormal - yes. I will probably be hounded for that comment but I know for fact that if my kids suffered like that I would not be offering forgiveness to the perpetrator's family - revenge yes.

Where are the normal reactions from a young woman cut down in her prime. These have not been reported. I have a quad friend who says that in the early days when he could not do anything he cried. When he moved his wheelchair for the first time, he did not know whether the tears were of joy or despair. Yes, he has an upbeat attitude but being normal he has emotions too.

I too am a Roman Catholic and have VERY STRONG faith but I know that if anything were to happen to any of my family, I would not be reacting with such piousness as Abigail Witchalls. There is something unnatural about a father talking of his severely paralysed daughter with no emotion whatsoever - save for the wiping of an eye at the end of his interview.

I would dearly love to know why the media thought there was merit in continuing with this "story" like a saga on some TV soap for 7 months until the baby was born.

I will be hounded off the boards for this but I sincerely hope that this is the last of the story now. Let them live in "leafy Surrey" where nothing ever happens for evermore. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD - bad things happen to the nicest of people - or are they only supposed to happen to "bad people."

Enjoy investing your £500,000 and I hope that one day justice becomes something that EVERYONE can get and not just the high profile media cases who are fortunate enough to live in places where "this has never happened before." I have advised my friend to move to Surrey and get into the newspapers. Despite media coverage in Ireland - he got nothing.

I agree very much with Irish Eyes & I posted this over on Andy's forums etc ( http://www.spinal-injury.net/sci-message-boards.htm ) so I won't repeat myself but it's not fair though it's not Abigails fault.

Gary

You're having a laugh - Criminal injuries is open to anyone and everyone and is based on a fixed published scale. I have no idea about the details of the irish case and if no compensation was awarded there were obviously reasons for this. Abigail got the maximum award available under the scheme and so she should, it's very difficult to imagine worse injuries and as such that's when the award should be the maximum.

So yes it is fair, if other isolated cases have been treated less appropriately then that's possibly unfair. You may not agree with the criminal injuries compensation scheme but it's there and in this case it's done it's job. Had abigail been hit by a car her award would have been 6 times what she's got from the CIC so she's got quite a case to make for the award being unfair should she want to.

And please, why the vitriolic attack on Abigail and her family, everyone deals with their (or their loved one's) injury differently and there is no reason to make a personal attack on her and her family regardless of your feelings about the operation of the criminal injuries compensation board and any point you may have been trying to make has, for me, been rendered viod by the bitterness of the personal attack on some genuine people just trying to make the best of an awful situation.

I agree with russ, but can understand why irish eyes has expressed her feelings in such a manner. We are all fashioned to some extent by our social attitude ( whether we realise it or not)
I am a very emotional person, and i know if someone attacked my daughter i would want to swing for them.
However, if you can find forgiveness in your heart so much better because you wont have to endure what anger,bitterness,grief and the like does to you physically and emotionally.
We live in a sometimes unfair and unjust world. Nevertheless, how we chose to live our life is up to us.

I hope that abigail and her family can now live as best they can, given the circumstances.

Love Michelle

I normally only browse this site - however, in view of the postings here fell I want to add my 2pence worth.

I can understand where Irish Eyes is coming from - and why. I dont think it was necessarily a vitriolic attack but more an attack of emotion - which I understand. My wife was attacked in London coming home from her work - totally unprovoked by a bunch of youths who thought it would be fun to taunt her for what she was wearing. Apparently, there is a dress code now.

As a result, she ended up in hospital, on a life support machine and now, 8 months later, there is absolutely no progress whatsoever. She is in a vegetable state and does not recognise me, her children or her family. There is no hope of any progress. We just go on like this for however long it takes.

Despite efforts by the police - no-one has been arrested and no-one has been brought to justice. What justice? A short prison sentence, community service?

I am not going into details personally about CIC or anything of that nature. I would just like to point out that what I read between the lines of Irish Eyes is similar to my situation - we survive this WITHOUT media reporting, without high profile TV interviews everytime something new happens.

Whilst I would not wish to engage in online arguments, I do feel angry that one woman gets full media coverage, what makes her different from my wife? The point Irish Eyes is trying to get over is we dont all want to switch on a TV and see someone in a debilitating state move a muscle. I have every sympathy with what happened to her but on a personal level could not care whether she had a baby boy or a baby girl - considering Iraq and other important issues is it worth space on the 10pm news to tell us that.

So, before the posters jump to attack Irish Eyes, spare a thought for those of us out here who have no CIC, no media coverage, no slots on the news. The only ones who care about us are our own nearest and dearest. All the media coverage in the world would not help my wife - however, the kids cannot help but ask why did Mummy get 6 lines and that lady gets a whole page? I cannot explain that to them.

Despite how it was written Irish Eyes, I agree with some of your sentiments.

I quite enjoy these boards but everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I am afraid in my situation, I find it ver hard to be happy for Abigail. Well anyone can smile and say "God is doing good things" when you have an award like that and all the NHS care you can have.

Excuse me now whilst I visit my wife and have another meeting with HER (supposed) NHS carers who are trying to find a nursing home for her which I doubt will come for nothing.

Everyone has problems and opinions and it is not for us to criticise or otherwise why people feel the way they do. As Mish says, some people are more emotional than others and believe me if I EVER catch who did this, or hear anyone say who did it, they had better make sure they have an up to date passport.

Sad husband
Can I suggest you try going to the press on this on the ack of abigails payment, make the contrast. Someone will pick it up and if they run with it you may get somewhere.
Write to your mp to.
The cic issue is odd. They do consider previous criminal convictioons on claimants which to me is wrong (others may disagree) because why is one person less in need than another. Its like access people for nhs treatment by asking if they have a criminal reecord and if they do placing them lower than someone else just based on this.