The parents of a toddler found in a bedroom strewn with rubbish and faeces have avoided jail because of their own ‘troubled upbringings’.
Kerry Rybak, 27, and Darren Stanley, 26, were handed a 16 month sentence suspended for two years on Tuesday after pleading guilty to child neglect at an earlier hearing.
Horrifying pictures from the couple’s home in Bentley in Doncaster show walls smeared with excrement, a filthy bare mattress and a window covered with a broken bed frame.
The couple’s two-year-old was found wandering around the house in a ‘t-shirt with no nappy on’, the judge at Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Darren Stanley and Kerry Rybak outside Sheffield Crown Court where they were handed a 16 month sentence suspended for two years
Horrifying pictures from the couple’s home in Bentley in Doncaster show walls smeared with excrement, a filthy bare mattress and a window covered with a broken bed frame
Judge Sarah Wright said their child showed signs of ’emotional and physical’ neglect and photographs released by the Crown Prosecution Service and South Yorkshire Police revealed the state of the property the family were living in.
Doncaster Council social workers went to the home because Rybak was pregnant and had ‘not made sufficient contact’ with social services, the court heard.
They later contacted police and officers called the crimes ‘truly appalling’.
Prosecutor Ian West told the court: ‘From the initial assessment, social workers became increasingly concerned and followed up an inspection of the house.
‘The child’s bedroom was scarce and in a disgusting state with faeces on the walls.
‘It’s inferred from the photos and the inadequacies of the defendants, this was ongoing for some time.’
Mr West added the pair were not ‘nasty or sadistic’ in relation to the child and admitted to police they ‘couldn’t cope’.
The child was said to have ‘below average development’ and was taken into care along with Rybak’s baby born some months later.
Rachael Hughes, defending Amazon warehouse worker Stanley, said he was ‘severely bullied at school, ‘dropped out aged 14’ and was ‘abused’ as a child.
Photographs released by the Crown Prosecution Service and South Yorkshire Police revealed the state of the property the family were living in
Doncaster Council social workers went to the home because Rybak was pregnant and had ‘not made sufficient contact’ with social services
She told the probation service ‘no punishment could match the sadness of having [his] child taken away’ and he ‘realised the seriousness of the offence’.
Richard Veni, defending Rybak, said: ‘She never had a father and left school with no qualifications.
‘She said to me that she tried to turn to people but found she couldn’t. She now accepts she could’ve spoken to social services.
‘Taking her children away is punishment in itself.’
Sentencing the pair, Judge Wright cited their own troubled upbringings.
The judge said: ‘There was no real support from the family and it is very clear you struggled to be parents. You reached the conclusion that you couldn’t care for your children.’
Rybak and Stanley, who sobbed throughout the hearing, must also take part in a rehabilitation order.
DC Cheryl McCorkell, the investigating officer in the case, said: ‘The crimes committed were truly appalling and the prolonged conditions in which the victim was forced to live, highlight the severity of the neglect suffered.’