17 December 2011

Iain and Annabel Grant of Aberfoyle, Scotland, have been found guilty. On the 16th of December the Wizengamot convicted the Grants of seven counts of willfully violating Codes of Werewolf Law resulting in the death of a muggle and the injury of two others.

The Grants chose not to submit their daughter (referred to as Jane to protect her privacy) to the Werewolf Registry following her succumbing to the Lycanthropy curse 2009. Instead, the Grants pulled Jane from Hogwarts and attempted to contain her transformations in their cellar. She escaped and was found to have caused the casualties.

The charges were lowered from The Department of  Magical Law Enforcement’s initial indictment of one count of murder, two counts of bodily harm caused to a Muggle (colloquially known as Muggle-baiting). Instead of lengthy sentences in Azkaban, the Grants were ordered to relinquish custody of both of their children and pay restitution.

Solomon Carstairs, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, seemed satisfied with the conclusion.

"The DMLE is pleased to note that Miss Grant's parents will be relieved child custody," he remarked when reached for comment, "and forced to rethink their actions. We believed that this result is in the best interest of public and individual safety."

Jane Grant will be immediately added to the Werewolf Registry and return to Hogwarts in January.

The Wizengamot may have been swayed towards these lowered charges by sympathetic witnesses and the surprise turnabout of the head of the Werewolf Capture Unit Kurby Bagnold.

The Werewolf Capture Unit, part of the Werewolf Wing in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, has jurisdiction to investigate and intervene in any case where a werewolf may be in violation of Codes of Werewolf Law, after which point the case is handed to the MLE for prosecution. Following this, agents of the WCU are often called to testify to the facts of the case for the prosecution.

However, when Bagnod was cross-examined by the Grant’s defense lawyer Harper Graves, he advocated for leniency. Wizengamot transcripts cite him as saying that the matter was “solved” with the capture and control of Jane Grant, so the Grants should not face punishment in Azkaban. He also expressed understanding that the Grants chose not to register their daughter as required by law, in effect, agreeing with the defenses other witnesses.

When asked for comment, Bagnold responded: “No comment.”

Other witnesses for the defense included Wizengamot Elder (recused) Knox T. Greyfriar also Headmaster of Hogwarts and a werewolf himself, and noted lycanthropy scholar Maya Irene-Strangely.

Jane Grant has already been enrolled with the Werewolf Registry and will return to Hogwarts in January. The Grants may petition custody in three years.

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More Like Werewolf Coddling Unit I did not imagine that in my life I would read the preposterous news that the head of the Werewolf Capture Unit had become a lapdog! The Ministry of Magic’s soft-minded do-goodery has finally gone too far! I consider myself open minded, but the Grants and their daughter ought to be locked up for what they did. Since when do we value the lives of innocent Muggles, human-beings, less than those of criminals? Bagnold should be sacked! We need someone in his job who will do what needs to be done! What next? Daycare for direwolves? Get right! - Warwick Cesswick, Esq.

Think of the Children I was surprised to read about the soft handling of the Grant case by both the Wizengamot and the WCU. How is it that the Grants aren't going to be facing time in Azkaban? Their behaviour clearly amounts to child abuse and we shouldn't tolerate it as a society! Who's to say that other parents won't be as reckless in hopes of being freed of their flea-ridden children? Very disappointed. I hope this doesn't set precedence. - Anonymous[1]  1.  Jebediah Layton