WASTED AWAY
Vegan couple who starved 20-month-old girl leaving her toothless and with rickets weighing less than a STONE avoid jail
A VEGAN couple who starved their baby to the point she was left toothless with rickets and weighing under a STONE have avoided jail.
The couple, who can't be named, had their three children taken away after the youngest was left severely malnourished in Sydney, Australia.
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At 20 months old, the stricken toddler weighed just 4.9kg - the size of a three-month-old - having been fed a diet of just oats and sparse veg.
She had also never been taken to a doctor or been vaccinated and did not have the strength to sit up or play with toys, a court heard.
The girl was taken into care after her strictly vegan mum called paramedics when she suffered a seizure linked to her starvation.
Despite this, a judge sentenced them on Wednesday to an 18-month intensive correction order rather than imprisonment.
Both will undertake 300 hours community service.
MEAGRE DIET
The parents sobbed in court as they heard details of their daughter’s neglect being read out.
Her mother had told doctors her daughter would generally have one cup of oats with rice milk and half a banana in the morning.
For lunch, the girl a piece of toast with jam or peanut butter, her mum claimed.
And for dinner, the mum said her baby would be offered tofu, rice or potatoes, court documents claimed.
But the mother insisted to medics her girl was a "fussy eater" - so would often only be given oats again.
SEVERE DEFICIENCIES
She was left with severe deficiencies in a range of nutrients - including a lack of calcium, phosphate, vitamin B12, vitamin A, iron and zinc.
Her levels of vitamin D - which can cause bone disease if found to be too low - were “undetectable”.
Rickets is a preventable bone disease that affects babies and young children and causes soft and weakened bones.
Children are typically diagnosed with rickets due to a lack of vitamin D, calcium or phosphorus.
One doctor described her as “floppy” and said the tiny toddler didn’t crawl or talk during the month in care in August 2018.
The toddler’s two older brothers, aged six and four, were also on vegan diets - and have been taken into government care.
CARER'S SHOCK
Her foster carer told the court in May that she was "shocked" by how underdeveloped the little girl was.
In an emotional impact statement, the carer said: "I was also shocked by how far behind (she) was compared to other children her age I had looked after — they had been able to run around, talk to you, play games.
“Caring for (her) was caring for a very young baby.
"She couldn’t sit up, she couldn’t speak any words, she couldn’t feed herself or hold a bottle, she couldn’t play with toys.
“She spent the day in her cot rolling back and forth.
"She couldn’t roll over all the way.”
The three children are now in the care of a relative of the parents.
REGULAR APPOINTMENTS
The girl now weighs a healthy 12kg but has been left with development problems including thin bones.
She must attend doctors' appointments, undergo tests and attend speech and physiotherapy sessions on an near-daily basis, the court heard.
It emerged during the trial that the parents had been going through a relationship breakdown at the time of the girl's trauma.
There were allegations of an affair - while the girl's father insisted he was "powerless" to prevent his daughter falling ill.
His defence lawyer also insisted the dad was not vegan - and that his stress with work and childcare meant his wife "dictated" the household.
She wasn’t walking or talking, she wasn’t hitting milestones
Judge Sarah Huggett
But Judge Sarah Huggett slammed his excuses - saying the father was an “educated man” who should have known something was wrong.
“She wasn’t walking or talking, she wasn’t hitting milestones” she said.
“He did nothing. He could have picked her up and taken her to a doctor.
“He is older than the mother and could have just as easily have done something.
“I do not accept that he was powerless.”
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Sentencing the couple on Wednesday, Judge Hugget said the couple had shown a “reckless failure to provide the necessities of life”.
The judge added that the mother had become “increasingly fixated” in her beliefs including in their vegan diet.
And Judge Hugget said: "There was a considerable danger of injury falling short of death.”
- Parts of this article originally appeared on
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