'I don't think it's fair': Kerri-Ann Conley's ex Peter Jackson lashes out at light punishment for daughter's hot car death
WATERFORD WEST, AUSTRALIA: Peter Jackson, the heartbroken father of one of the two young girls who died when their mother, Kerri-Ann Conley, abandoned them in a hot car, is furious at the sentence she was given. Jackson says that a murder charge and a 30-year prison term would have been more appropriate compared to the nine-year manslaughter sentence she received.
Conley, 30, entered a plea of guilty to manslaughter for the deaths of her two daughters, Darcey-Helen, 2, and Chloe-Ann, 18 months. Supreme Court Justice Peter Applegarth sentenced Conley to nine years in prison and found that she was guilty of gross criminal neglect by leaving the children in the car for nine hours while the temperature inside the car reached 60 degrees. Conley had been first charged with murder, but the charge was later reduced after Jackson, the father of Darcey-Helen, was informed that murder was "too hard to prove," according to DailyMail. Jackson claimed he was unable to understand how Conley managed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
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'I don't think it's fair'
Jackson said, "I still think it should be murder. She should have got the 30 years. I don't think it's fair. These were defenseless children," as reported by ABC. Conley, who has already served three years in prison, will be eligible for parole in November 2024.
Conley was initially charged with murder in accordance with laws that expanded the definition of murder to include a reckless disregard for human life just a few weeks before the incident. However, she was later permitted to enter a guilty plea when she was arraigned Tuesday, February 14 to the reduced charges as well as to carrying dangerous drugs and utensils, according to DailyMail.
The court learned of multiple instances of Conley's neglect and that she had made a "deliberate decision" to leave the two children in the car when she returned to her home in the southern Brisbane suburb of Waterford West at 4 am on November 23, 2019. Jackson stated, "I do believe the charges should have stuck," according to ABC.
How did the girls die?
Conley's case constituted criminal negligence, Justice Applegarth emphasized, and acknowledged that she had no actual intention of hurting either of her girls. Autopsies confirmed the girls' deaths were caused by hyperthermia, a condition where the body temperature reaches or exceeds 40 degrees. However, the precise moment of their deaths could not be determined.
