I think we also need to remember that this wasn’t just an overnight thing - it wasn’t as though they’d shacked up and within days FS was making her toddler stand at the wall. It happened over months, months of manipulation and coercion that FS probably wouldn’t have realised was happening. Lots of ‘we’re a team’, ‘I’ll help you to bring her up’, ‘if we don’t curtail this behaviour then we’re making a rod for our own back’…. Etc etc. Remember SB really spoiled Star - she bought her a pram/car seat etc and she always looked immaculate in lovely clothes. It would have been hard for someone with low levels of emotional intelligence and intellect to be able to separate the two things.
I feel (as many others seem to feel too) that I should caveat this with ‘but FS should have done more’ and of course she should, but I think we’re talking about a perfect storm of a dysfunctional upbringing with few positive role models, a young girl who was ‘abandoned’ by her boyfriend, who sees her mates (and mum) living the life of Riley and wants a bit of that, who got the attention of someone who ‘took control’ (and that’s not always a negative when you’re used to living in chaos), someone who seemingly was more experienced in bringing up children and was therefore more knowledgeable in the dos and don’ts of discipline……. And everything just spiralled.
It’ll be interesting to see how the next few days of cross examination pan out, but for now - that’s my opinion on FS.