“While I have much to draw on, I’m referring in particular to one appearance on the very same TV show that necessitated your absence on the morning of your daughter’s illness,” Nevin went on, “whereby you proclaimed live on the show that ‘Children don’t need to be mollycoddled, theyshouldget scraped and cut up now and again...it helps with their development.’ Are these not your own words, Mrs. Cooper?”
“They are, but they were uttered in the context of an article I’d written about playgrounds and how parents can sometimes be too overprotective.”
“And do you still stand by those words today?” Nevin asked.
She nodded. “In the context in which they were uttered, yes, I do.”
“So you admit that you are an advocate of leaving children unprotected and left at the whims of—”
“Objection. Mrs. Cooper has already stated that her words refer to a specific context, not the issue at hand.”
The judge sighed. “Where are you going with this, Counsel?” he asked.
“Judge, I am trying to establish a pattern in Mrs. Cooper’s attitude and behavior toward risk, specifically pertaining to children. She appears to have a history of advocating dangerous parenting and an irresponsible attitude to child protection—”
“That is absolutely not true!” Madeleine cut in, becoming somewhat rattled now. “For goodness’ sake, that article related to one thing and one thing only. Children’s welfare isalwaysa parent’s priority, every minute of the day. We lose sleep over it, we worry and we fret because we are constantly trying to live up to what’s best. Endless so-called ‘rules’ laid down by doctors, health experts, well-meaning strangers or other parents who love to tell us what we’re doing wrong or how our kidsshouldbe behaving at that age. And then, just in case that’s not enough, continuous judgment on top of it all! So how can you honestly stand there and tell me that a little bit of leeway once in a while is a bad thing for either a child or a parent?”
Declan saw how Madeleine now commanded every pair of eyes in the room. It was a stirring speech and she did make some good points, but he got the sense that she was only managing to dig herself in deeper where Nevin was concerned.
“Quite the diatribe, Mrs. Cooper, thank you. However, I believe my point still stands that your decisions as a parent aren’t always in the interests of protecting other children, and this is personified by your approach to the vaccination issue, is it not?”
Madeleine was stony-faced. “I believe I’ve already explained myself at length in that regard.”
“Let’s move on. So, in relation to the same vaccination issue, you said earlier that you felt other parents’ decisions in this regard were equally important. Yet isn’t it also true that you immediately took some level of responsibility for Rosie O’Hara’s measles infection—specifically while she was in the hospital?”
Madeleine wore a neutral expression. “Obviously I felt terrible for what Kate and Rosie were going through. I was very worried and hugely sympathetic—I still am.”
The barrister nodded at her response. “Of course, but I asked you if you felt responsible.”
Quickly, Madeleine replied, “It wasn’t that I felt directly responsible... I just felt bad that Clara had gotten over her own illness so well and Rosie didn’t. But it wasn’t anyone’s fault. It just...happened.”
At this, Nevin seemed to smirk ever so slightly as he motioned to Alison. He looked to the judge. “I would like to submit the following evidence for the court’s consideration, namely a blog post that Mrs. Cooper published for public consumption shortly after Ms. O’Hara issued legal proceedings.” Declan studied Madeleine’s face when a written transcript of the blog was produced. He couldn’t be sure but he thought he spotted a flash of panic in her eyes. “Mrs. Cooper, would you like to read these words as written by you?”
She looked to Townsend then, as if for guidance, and he seemed to shake his head no. Declan was flabbergasted. Surely he’d prepared his client for this possibility and must have known that their side would have the errant blog post in their arsenal, ready to use at just the right moment? Why else had they been so quick to take it down?
But maybe they’d been foolish enough to believe they’d done so in the nick of time, before anyone had seen it. Luckily for him, Alison had added herself to the ranks ofMad Mum’s devoted followers the day after Kate agreed to proceed with the case.
And his little sister missed nothing.
“Very well. Do you, then, or indeed the court, have any objection to it being read out loud by a third party?”
“Judge, how is this relevant? Mrs. Cooper’s missive to her social media followers is hardly of interest to the court.”
“Oh, it is indeed of interest, Mr. McGuinness, and also very pertinent to the witness’s current line of testimony, as we shall soon discover. Mrs. Cooper?”
Madeleine nodded almost imperceptibly and the judge waved a hand.
“Proceed, Counsel.”
At this, Alison stood up and cleared her throat. If, as it turned out, Madeleine did not want to read out her blog post, Declan felt it better and more impactful to have her words be read by another female, so as to closely associate them in the judge’s mind with the defendant.
Or to be more specific, her plea.
“‘I know there are a lot of opinions out there on what is happening at the moment with my daughter, my family and the O’Hara family. Yes, I openly admit that my husband and I did not vaccinate our children against MMR—we have never hidden that. We have our reasons—they are multifaceted and very personal—and I don’t wish to discuss them on a public forum. But, in short, and following extensive research and much soul-searching, we are not completely convinced of the MMR vaccine’s safety. The risk involved in participating with the vaccine program is one my husband and I could not, in good faith, take with our own children. The worry of bringing them to harm by doing so, taken against the risks borne from contracting a disease, were just too great. Additionally, my eldest son, Jake, had measles when he was eighteen months old, and, like my daughter, Clara, recovered well with no ill effects. For us, that risk of not vaccinating paid off, in that our children both contracted the disease yet remain healthy and unharmed.
“‘Kate O’Hara chose to take the same risk in not vaccinating, but for health rather than personal reasons. And while my daughter recovered well, her little girl, Rosie, is now fighting for her life in the hospital.
“‘I feel so sorry for Kate and would honestly do anything for her so that she could realize the same thing as I did: a happy, healthy child who has made a complete recovery.
