Death for US family-killer father

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4636277.stm

I'm speechless!

Why did no one speak up?Was there no one who could have prevented this?
Did no one at any time have any suspicions of this man/situation?

How can any society prevent situations like this from happening?

Oh and can we NOT call for hanging,burning or whatever you feel is an appropriate sentence for this man..I'm not interested in that.I'm more interested in a discussion about prevention of such cases...

[punky]

What can you do? I am suprised that the guy was tried as a sane person, because he really doesn't appear like that from what I have read. The trouble is with mentally ill patients, is that they blend in, and you only know about them when it is too late.

[Paul K]

The problem is that when people exhibit this amount of control over others there is little chance of someone finding out. Groups stay un-discovered for years as people will rarely talk about how they live their lives while they are within the "cult".
If you are born into a family where this sort of control is already in use then you are unlikely to see it as being wrong or unusual.

[AndrewJ]

Stunned just totally stunned.