| The RealJustice4Brandon group are campaigning for a new Safe Guardian Law to be adopted by Holyrood — a move they believe will help protect children when allegations of abuse arise. The group, led by former Dundee councillor Allan Petrie, raised an online petition at the Parliament last month with the backing of Brandon’s father, John Muir, and aunt, Dayna Garty.
The petition, which gained a total of 381 signatures, only closed on Monday evening and was formally lodged the following day, but the group heard yesterday it will go before the Public Petitions Committee on Tuesday, December 1. Mr Petrie said he was surprised and delighted at the speed with which the petition has been dealt with.
He explained, “I’m not sure how quickly these things usually go through — I was very surprised. We weren’t expecting the petition to reach a committee until after Christmas, and I’m so glad it’s come before. I’ve been told I don’t have to go to the Parliament to give evidence on December 1, but I will be going to watch the debate with a colleague.”
The debate is open to members of the public, who can watch from a designated gallery. The campaign group has also been told the committee will be broadcast over the internet via the Holyrood website. Mr Petrie went on to say his confidence had been bolstered after a group of pupils from Dyce Academy, in Aberdeen, took a petition to the Parliament this week to reinstate the sale of chocolate in their school tuck shop and it was upheld.
“They only had around 70 signatures so we’re hoping that with our 381 signatures and the fact the petition deals with the safety of children that the Public Petitions Committee will take it seriously,” Mr Petrie went on.
He added it was now important that supporters of the RealJustice4Brandon campaign kept the pressure on their MSPs in the run up to the debate. “MSPs will be sitting on the committee — although we don’t know which ones yet. Even though someone has signed the petition, they must keep the pressure on their local MSP because they can influence their own party members.”
If the petition goes through on December 1, the committee will request the Scottish Government debates the issue with a view to forming a bill.
The petition calls on the Scottish Government to enact new legislation that allows a suitably screened relative of a child to be nominated as a Safe Guardian when allegations of abuse or neglect by a parent come to light. The law would also see newborn children removed from drug addicted mothers and a system put in place to allow supervised contact with their baby whilst they undergo rehabilitation.
The group believes the Safe Guardian Law could have saved the life of 23-month-old Brandon, who died in Dundee in March last year at the hands of violent thug Robert Cunningham. The trial of Cunningham heard Brandon lived out his days in a squalid Douglas flat in the care of his drug-abusing prostitute mother Heather Boyd. |
