Details in death of child may be opened

A federal magistrate must decide whether to unseal what's been called "lurid and inflammatory" admissions contained in a plea agreement of a woman who pleaded guilty to murder in the beating death of her 5-year-old stepdaughter. Federal Magistrate Judge Leslie Kobayashi heard arguments on the request by The Honolulu Advertiser to make public the sealed portions of Delilah S. Williams' plea agreement. Williams' defense lawyer and the federal prosecutor on Dec. 6 requested that a seven-page section of her agreement be sealed, a request Kobayashi granted. Williams pleaded guilty for her role in the July 16, 2005 death of Talia Williams. Advertiser attorney Jeffrey Portnoy argued that the defense attorneys and prosecution failed to establish why the admissions should remain confidential, particularly when the media has already reported the allegations surrounding the child's death due to "battered child syndrome." The defense and prosecution argued that the disclosure would jeopardize the rights of a fair trial for Delilah Williams' husband, Naeem Williams, a co-defendant who faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering his daughter when he goes to trial scheduled for October this year.

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Child pornography law coming

With paedophiles and other sex devils using technology, particularly Internet chat rooms and instant messengers, to lure persons into sex traps, calls have come for legislation to protect minors and greater public education on technology. Mary Clarke, the Children's Advocate, says, "There certainly needs to be more regularisation of the IT (information technology) sector, especially as it relates to children." Similarly, Errol Anderson, president of the Jamaica Computer Society, says he would support legislation that would make criminal, persons who pose as teenagers in chat rooms and on instant messengers in order to lure minors into sexual encounters. "Such law is something we need to enact as soon as we can," says Mr. Anderson. He believes children make up a vast number of Internet users, and notes that a lot of them are often unsupervised.

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Child care foes face off again over tax-break plan

Some families with a stay-at-home parent say they should be able to split their incomes to reduce taxes. Opponents say the plan, which would cost the treasury billions, would mostly benefit the upper classes The new frontier in the battle over child care begins this week in Parliament's venerable West Block, the dust still swirling from the old frontier fight over $100-a-month payments for children under six. .

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