The National Council of Women and its network of organisations would like to express its satisfaction that the mother who was imprisoned for three months on the grounds that she failed to ensure that her 17-year-old son visits his father has been granted a Presidential pardon.

Deeply concerned by the way the case was handled, the Council had sent a written petition requesting the President to consider the negative consequences of the sentence and the suffering that all three members of the family were going through.

The Council hopes that both parents will be given the professional help they need to build a responsible relationship for the mother, the father and the son, at least to help them come to terms with their horrible experience and stop hurting each other. This case should be a lesson to us all: that although justice is administered it does not always guarantee that right prevails and that an act of forgiveness is indeed more noble.

Grace Attard

Vice-President NCW

Member of the EESC