|
S P E C I A L S The Au Pair Trial Mother in au pair case: 'Judge took away justice'
Tells Time magazine decision 'belittles' son's death
November 16, 1997
Web posted at: 8:57 p.m. EST (0157 GMT)BOSTON (CNN) -- The mother of Matthew Eappen says she feels victimized by the decision by a Massachusetts judge to set free Louise Woodward, the British au pair convicted of killing her child.
"I feel I'm the judge's victim," Deborah Eappen says in an interview in the latest edition of Time magazine. "Louise took away Matthew, and the judge took away justice."
A L S O :
Time magazine - One Mother's Story
"What are we telling people in this case? That if you commit a crime and lie, you get away with it? It really belittles and diminishes the value of Matthew's life.
"How did Louise become the hero and I become the villain?" she said.
Eappen also told Time that she thinks Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Hiller Zobel, who reduced Woodward's conviction from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter and her prison sentence from life to 279 days, was influenced by the intense publicity surrounding the case.
"The judge was not sequestered. He was reading papers; he's on the Internet," Eappen told Time. "There is some ego thing going on there -- you have to wonder what his underlying biases are."
Eappen said when her 8 1/2-month-old son was first hospitalized with a fatal head injury, she "wanted to believe Louise didn't do it." But now, she says Woodward's lack of remorse is "very offensive."
"You know, after she was found guilty, she said, 'How can you do this to me? I'm only 19.' Well, my response was, 'How could you do that to Matthew? He was only 8 1/2 months,'" Eappen told Time.
"Now, Louise is living in a presidential suite in (a) hotel. She is a convicted felon, and it has turned into the biggest opportunity in her life."
Eappen told the magazine that she and her husband, Sunil, plan to stay in Boston and that she plans to return to her medical practice part-time, two days a week, "to channel some energy into something positive."
"I don't want to feel like Louise can defeat our happiness," she said.
Special Section:
Message board:
Related stories:
- Eappen supporters decry au pair's 'folk hero status' - November 15, 1997
- Pediatricians blast defense in au pair case - November 12, 1997
- British press hails au pair decision - November 11, 1997
- Reaction to au pair's release exuberant, grim - November 10, 1997
- Judge frees au pair - November 10, 1997
- Reaction to Woodward decision - November 10, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- The Louise Woodward Campaign For Justice - official support site set up by family, friends and sympathetic supporters of the British Au-Pair Louise Woodward
- Louise Woodward Support Page - supporters from Boston
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
|
Sound off on our message boards You said it... |
|
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.