A disgraced Sydney naturopath who put a breastfeeding mother on a liquid-only diet, which nearly starved her eight-month-old baby to death, will spend at least seven months in jail.
Marilyn Pauline Bodnar last August pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in failing to provide for the boy in 2015.
The 61-year-old was sentenced in the NSW District Court on Thursday to a maximum 14 months prison term.
Marilyn Pauline Bodnar, 61, a disgraced Sydney naturopath who put a breastfeeding mother on a liquid-only diet which nearly starved her eight-month-old baby to death, will spend at least seven months in jail
Although the maximum penalty is a five-year jail term, Judge Peter Berman handed down a non-parole period of seven months for the ‘well-intentioned but seriously misguided advice’.
Bodnar deeply regrets her actions and has vowed to never work with children again, her defence team said.
Lawyer Rick Mitry said the naturopath from south-west Sydney was paraded in front of media cameras by police during her July 2015 arrest and has since been ‘trolled and bullied on social media’.
‘She feels crushed, she has been punished,’ he said.
The case follows Bodnar’s acquittal in 1987 for the manslaughter of Narelle Niemann (pictured), who died after 63 days on a water-only diet
In May 2015 the child was admitted to Westmead Hospital near death with severe malnourishment and developmental issues.
Bodnar, a former nurse, recommended a raw food diet and eventually water only for the woman, who was exclusively breastfeeding the infant
He weighed just 6.5 kilograms, was emaciated and severely dehydrated, had sunken eyes, dangerously low sodium levels and flexed hands and feet.
‘Had he not presented at hospital at that time, he would have died within days,’ Magistrate Ian Guy said during his sentencing of the mother in August last year.
The mother had sought health treatment advice from Bodnar about her son’s eczema and was told to stop conventional medical and dermatological treatments, the court previously heard.
The former nurse recommended a raw food diet and eventually water only for the woman, who was exclusively breastfeeding the infant.
At one point Bodnar modified the water-only rule by adding watermelon for three days.
Marilyn Pauline Bodnar (centre) arrived at the Downing Centre Court in Sydney, Thursday April 5, 2018. She was sentenced after being charged with giving advice to a mother who almost starved her eight-month-old baby to death
Bodnar (pictured) advised a raw food diet and eventually water to the breast-feeding mother to help with her son’s eczema, but the advice left the eight-month-old boy days from death, emaciated and severely dehydrated
Crown prosecutor Tony McCarthy said Bodnar ignored the boy’s weight-loss warning signs due to a ‘blind allegiance’ to her alternative medicine ideology.
‘This blind allegiance was the cause of the child nearly dying,’ he said.
He noted Bodnar’s ‘high degree of recklessness’, the baby’s extreme vulnerability and the fact that the child was days away from death when admitted to hospital.
In 2016 the mother, a university-trained midwife at a Sydney hospital, pleaded guilty to failing to provide for her baby and was given a 14-month good behaviour bond after agreeing to give evidence against Bodnar at her then-expected trial.
Crown prosecutor Tony McCarthy said Bodnar ignored the boy’s weight-loss warning signs due to a ‘blind allegiance’ to her alternative medicine ideology
The mother’s lawyer had submitted she was a loving mother who was desperate to put an end to her son’s discomfort and, after orthodox medical treatments failed to improve his condition, sought advice from the naturopath.
The case follows Bodnar’s acquittal in 1987 for the manslaughter of Narelle Niemann who died after 63 days on a water-only diet.
She had been fasting on the advice of Bodnar as she planned to detox her body ready to have another child, The Daily Telegraph reported.
During her treatment, Ms Niemann lost 21kg and became so weak she could only move around on her hands and knees.
Yet Bodnar was found not guilty after her lawyers argued she was helping Ms Niemann as a friend as opposed to a patient.