16 The Linguist Vol/63 No/1
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In a disturbing infanticide case, Sue Leschen wrangles with
the legal and medical terms, and some difficult emotions
Interpreting a murder trial concerning an
adult victim is difficult enough, but one
involving a baby was much more challenging.
In infanticide, the alleged killer is the baby's
biological mother – where there should
have been nurture there may have been a
murder. Arguably, such a case is more
emotionally difficult for interpreters than, for
example, the killing of an adult by an
unrelated stranger.
Aside from the obvious psychological
challenges, there was also complex legal
terminology to deal with. I had to familiarise
myself with the lengthy wording on the
indictment (the list of charges in the crown
court). The defendant had been charged
under Section 1 of the Infanticide Act 1938:
"Where a woman by any wilful act or omission
causes the death of her child being a child
under the age of twelve months but at the
time of the act or omission the balance of her
mind was disturbed by reason of her not
having fully recovered from the effect of giving
birth to the child or by reason of the effect of
lactation consequent upon the birth of the
child, then if the circumstances were such, but
for this Act, would have amounted to murder
or manslaughter she shall be guilty of felony, to
wit of infanticide, and for such offence be dealt
with and punished as if she had been guilty of
the offence of manslaughter of the child."
I had to interpret this long-winded, 'don't
pause for breath' style indictment at the
outset of the trial, and my interpretation
had to be word perfect, as otherwise there
could have been a challenge as to whether
or not the defendant had been properly
indicted (charged). As experienced as I am,
had I not prepared in advance I would have
probably struggled with a text like this.
Fortunately, I had begged a copy of the
indictment from the court clerk before the
hearing started.
Terms such as 'lactation' (same word in
French) had to be carefully researched.
Although there was clearly a reference to
'milk' in there somewhere, the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) barrister advised
me that 'lactation' referred to the period of
time when the defendant was breastfeeding
her baby.
A mother's judgement
