Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dunn rightly deserves his time in jail but also a real chance to heal
DID you read the story about Dundee man Shaun Dunn?
The former Lochee resident has been jailed in Liverpool after threatening hospital staff with a hypodermic needle.
That’s the news story — the most recent shocking thing Dunn did.
It’s the kind of story that elicits anger — and rightly so, when medical workers who save lives round the clock are endangered by someone like that.
But scratch the surface of this story to read the details and — just like anyone — there is a story attached to the man.
Since he was only 12 years old — yes, 12 — Dunn has been addicted to hard drugs and this is the latest in a line of 64 other offences in a life dogged by addiction and crime.
He said he was suffering mental anguish and lost control when hospital staff told him no help could be provided.
Dunn moved south from Dundee after splitting with a long-term partner and says he plans to return home after his 10-month sentence ends.
Home — a place of happiness and memories from youth. But not for Dunn.
Look at the mug shot of him. What do you see? A junkie? A bad man? Or a lost soul?
Look a little closer and it’s not so hard to imagine the boy he was.
A boy with bright eyes, who once only wanted to play with toys, kick a ball with his pals and eat sweeties, yet somehow turned to drugs when he was still in primary school.
Why? Why did he turn to them? What happened to him to take the dark escape from the reality of his life?
How can a boy be allowed to become a heroin addict?
Did no one care enough to stop him? Or did they try but fail?
No one is born evil. And no one can second guess the childhood incidents that led to Dunn’s life choices.
We don’t know what happened to Dunn but what is beyond doubt is that something went badly wrong.
A 12-year-old should barely know what heroin is, let alone how to get it or use it.
The effects of abuse or neglect in childhood manifest in acts of selfdestruction. Children who hate themselves want to disappear.
If we’ve been lucky enough to be loved as a child, it’s easy to assume that’s how it is for everyone.
But what if you were never shown love, cuddled, kissed or praised?
What if the very people who exist to protect you somehow damaged you for life?
And what if the world judged when, 20 years later, you carried out a desperate, mad cry for help?
Dunn did something wrong and deserves his sentence but surely he also deserves to have his story heard and the chance of real psychological help and healing.