A university-educated couple in Perth, Australia, have been sentenced to prison for deliberately starving their daughter, causing her serious health complications. The parents lied about their daughter's age and resisted attempts to get her medical help until the last minute.
In the Perth District Court on Friday, university-educated parents from Perth 's wealthy western suburbs, both in their late 40s, were jailed for their crimes after being convicted by a jury in November last year. The father, who pleaded guilty to an additional charge of forging his daughter's birth certificate, received six and a half years, while the mother was sentenced to five years.
Shocking photographs of the malnourished teenager were presented to the jury throughout the trial, depicting her leotard, intended for a six to eight-year-old, appearing baggy against her slight 16-year-old frame. In some, she is dancing with other girls in her ballet class, most considerably younger than her, as her parents had lied about her true age on enrolment forms to make her appear two years younger. The girl was eventually admitted to hospital where it was determined she was dangerously underweight. Yet, she stands out as the smallest in the group, her arms and legs described as 'stick-like' according to one dance teacher's testimony. Prosecutor Jehna Winter informed the court that it would have been obvious to anyone who saw her, including her parents, 'there was something seriously wrong with her'. While materially she clearly lived a privileged life, physically, emotionally, and developmentally, the opposite was true. Days before her 17th birthday, she weighed just over 27 kilograms, the average weight of an eight-year-old. Her skin appeared sallow and dry, her hair brittle and thinning, there were dark marks under her eyes, and a noticeable orange ring was present around her mouth – all key markers of malnutrition according to doctors. Showing photographs of the girl's alarming appearance to the jury at trial, Ms Winter said her collarbone, pelvis, and hips were protruding. Not true, the mother insisted. It was the unflathomable angle of the photographs, deliberately chosen by ballet teachers to make her look thinner, that was to blame. Black was white, her daughter was perfect, and there was no need for authorities to get involved. Why her parents failed to provide her with adequate nutrition, infantilized her, and stunted her social and emotional development was only hinted at during the court proceedings. It was 'quite unfathomable' to the judge that her parents, 'two healthy, intelligent people,' did not see what was blatantly obvious to everyone else who encountered her – that their daughter was starving. Instead, she found that they were well aware of their daughter's dire predicament, noting that they themselves were not emaciated. The young woman attended court with supporters on Thursday and Friday to hear her parents' sentence. 'What you failed to do was make sure your daughter did.' They also knew, the judge said, that their daughter was 'significantly and concerningly smaller in weight and height' than her peers, and it was 'grossly negligent' of them not to do anything about it. The judge noted that one of the most 'extraordinary' pieces of evidence concerned a critical doctor's appointment just before the emaciated teen was finally admitted to hospital, in which the parents were told she was at risk of cardiac arrest and urged to take her to the emergency department. At a time when their daughter's life was in danger, they came up with a litany of reasons why they were too busy that weekend to spare the time to get medical help and 'made up the most ridiculous excuses,' including that the family was still grieving the loss of their pet cat. Motive was not an element of the offences, Judge Black said, finding there was a 'lack of malice' in their behaviour, but their crimes exhibited the highest degree of recklessness. The girl's mother, Judge Black found, 'didn't want her to grow up, because that would mean she would leave you and you would be left alone'. While in hospital, the mother let her daughter sit on her lap and cry like a small child, helped her use the toilet, wash her hands, and brush her teeth, and encouraged her to watch the Wiggles, Play School, and Thomas the Tank Engine
Crime STARVATION CHILD ABUSE PERTH AUSTRALIA PARENTS JAILED HEALTH
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