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Mom gets 15 years for hurting infant daughter

Okla. woman admits injecting fecal matter into child

FIRST PERSON

Updated: 2:15 p.m. ET Jan. 31, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY - A woman who experts said has a rare mental disorder has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after admitting she injected fecal matter into her infant daughter.

Sarena Sherrard, 31, pleaded guilty Tuesday to child abuse charges.

Two mental health care providers, who have cared for Sherrard since her arrest, testified she could not resist the urge to harm her daughter. They blamed a disorder known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in which parents create or exaggerate injury to a child to bring attention to themselves. The cause is unknown.

Sherrard was arrested in August 2005 after surveillance video showed her injecting a foreign substance into her daughter’s catheter at Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. Police had put the girl’s room under surveillance because doctors suspected someone was harming her, according to court papers.

“I cannot in any way wrap my mind around this, Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass said Tuesday. “It is beyond my comprehension.

Bass said he sentenced Sherrard to one year in prison for each of the 13 times the girl was hospitalized, plus 2½ years because the abuse lasted that long.

Daughter 'now doing wonderfully'

“Even though (the judge) agreed with our psychiatrist and psychologist that she had several mental disorders ... he just thought it was such a severe case that he elected for punishment as opposed to treatment, defense attorney Irven Box said Wednesday.

The girl, now 4, has some hearing loss but has otherwise recovered.

“She’s doing wonderfully, said Kevin Sherrard, the child’s father. “There’s nothing wrong with her. There probably never was.

He said he didn’t realize his daughter was being harmed until after his then-wife was arrested.

The judge also imposed a 14½-year probation sentence and barred Sarena Sherrard from having unsupervised contact with children or the elderly.

Defense attorney Irven Box had asked the judge to allow Sherrard to live with her parents while undergoing psychiatric treatment.

Box expressed concern Sherrard wouldn’t receive adequate medication or mental health treatment in prison.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

I saw this. It makes me sick. That dumb bitch needs to be hanged and burned.

I always think i've heard just about every thing and then another story comes along even sicker than the last .:-5

How sick and sad.:-1

Inject her with Poo crazy women.. let her see how it feels.

CARLA;541452 wrote: Inject her with Poo crazy women.. let her see how it feels.


That is exactly what should be done to her.

Interesting case and sentence. Very interesting responses, too - indicative of

mental disorders?

pantsonfire321@aol.com;541436 wrote: Daughter 'now doing wonderfully'




Well, that's good news.

She'll do well as a politician or a lawyer.

It's in her blood.

Bill Sikes;541494 wrote: Interesting case and sentence. Very interesting responses, too - indicative of

mental disorders?


What is indicative of mental disorders? Surely you dont mean anyone's responses in this thread?

Richard Bell;541502 wrote: Well, that's good news.

She'll do well as a politician or a lawyer.

It's in her blood.


;) It was pushed into an (unspecified) catheter, poor girl. However, I have heard

it said that our nice Mr. Blair (UK) hasn't been on the bog for 10 years!

flopstock;541524 wrote: If you are unable to behave correctly towards others you should be locked up until you can...

End of discussion.


People are, at least in the UK. For extremes, there are hospitals such as

Ashworth, Broadmoor, and Rampton. Isn't it the case in the 'States?

flopstock;541552 wrote: Bottom line, we just don't care how people are, until it affects our lives personally.. until then it is just a freak news story and we feel really really bad for the victims while thanking god it is not us.


Thankfully I haven't seen that sentiment very widely expressed!

flopstock;542268 wrote:

If folks really cared about others as much as they cared about 'their own' ,many of the awful things that 'just are' -wouldn't be. The fact that we don't say something out loud is not relevant to whether it is a truth.


I don't think that people care about others as much as "their own" - I don't,

I know... I was just hoping that people care - that they don't simply "not care".

BTW, I'm not trying to say or imply that you don't care about others at all. I was

just saying that I hope most people care for others to a reasonable degree!

In my experiences (some of them anyway), ignorance is a problem. i.e. mental illness is not understood, and those that suffer with it are labeled as worthless. That's unfair.

That said, I think this judge was correct also. Having a mental illness shouldn't be an excuse to get away with a crime either. Of course, then you have those that argue, "Was this person ever offered help?". It's a never ending cycle of disagreement around here. (here being my geographic area)