I heard some pretty lazy talkback and journalism yesterday and it all was understandable.

The sentencing of Tawera Wichman. The headline was a sitter for outrage. “Shock as man gets just three years 10 months for the manslaughter of his 11-month child.”

What do you think asked the host? Well the lines opened and the judge and the judicial system got it both barrels. These judges are out of touch. Sentenced to a beating with a wet bus ticket. It's not a justice system it's a legal system. Who do these judges think they are. Judge, judge, justice, justice. 

Was that the appropriate response? NO. How about some facts. They always get in the way of a god story.

Wichman and his partner had twins when he was 17 and she was 16. They were born 15 weeks premature. Already this is a recipe for disaster. Even competent parents would be stretched. These were kids with high dependency twins. The twins were in a special unit for eight months after their birth. They were that fragile. They came home. The family gathered round giving them a roof and drawing up a roster of support. State agencies also provided substantial support. But the babies were very hard work.

Two months after coming home one of the twins was having a very difficult night. Wichman tried to give her a bottle. And some time in the night he shook the baby. Her head hit nothing but remember, this was a fragile child. He was an idiot who snapped under the pressure. The baby was immediately taken to hospital. But died a month later.

Wichman then never owned up and it took six years to catch him. They caught him in a police sting where they lured him into a fake petty crime gang. Before that he'd been working legally for his Dad. Slowly he was convinced to transport some dope and then to admit to any past wrongdoing to join the crime ring. That was when he told undercover cops that he'd shaken his baby and she had died.

I heard little of that story yesterday. All I heard about was the incompetence of our judges.

The messages I wanted to hear yesterday are these.

Kids shouldn't have kids. Even with the best intentions they're not mature enough. Teenagers with medically vulnerable kids in particular.

I wanted to hear, “NEVER SHAKE A BABY!!!!!”. I wanted to hear that over and over again.

I wanted to hear own up and take personal responsibility.

I wanted to hear that families who keep quiet about abuse in their midsts are not doing their families any favours at all.

And then I wanted to hear “NEVER SHAKE A BABY!!!!!” again.

So I understand why Justice Simon France decided on a lenient sentence because this lad in his 8 years of parenthood has not shown any other sign of abuse. However I still think the sentence was light because Wichman didn't own up and hid his mistake.

But Justice Simon France is not the centre of this story. It's the baby. And why she died. And what we can really do to prevent another child dying.  That should always be the centre of our discussions. And remember NEVER EVER SHAKE A BABY!!!!!!