A couple who forced their baby to have a meat-free diet, leaving her severely malnourished, have avoided jail.
The 33-year-old mother and father, 35, admitted to failing to provide for a child, causing serious injury.
The pair were sentenced on Thursday to an 18-month intensive corrections order after pleading guilty They will also undertake 300 hours community service, 7news reported.
The extreme vegan diet left the 20-month-old severely malnourished.
At the time she had no teeth, could not stand up, weighed less than 5kg (11lbs) and looked like a three-month-old.
The child, who was fed a diet relying on oats and rice milk, was ‘defenceless and unable to protect herself from her parents, and developed rickets.
The extreme vegan diet left the 20-month-old severely malnourished
The mother told police the child was a ‘fussy eater’. Sometimes for a snack the child was given a mouthful of fruit or two sultanas (the parents pictured outside court)
Throughout the sentencing on Thursday the parents, who legally cannot be named, wiped away tears as Judge Sarah Huggett told the court the pair had been reckless in their parenting.
The father was heard sobbing loudly as details of the neglect were read out in Downing Centre District Court.
The small girl was put into foster care in march last year after paramedics were called when she began having a fit.
Judge Huggett said both parents had shown a ‘reckless failure to provide the necessities of life’.
Judge Huggett said the mother’s fixation with a vegan diet left her daughter in ‘considerable danger of injury falling short of death’.
They fed the girl a diet so lacking in basic nutrients she developed rickets, a degenerative bone disease caused by a shortage of vital nutrients.
The toddler could not crawl or even roll over when first taken to hospital. She has now learnt to stand and walk after intensive rehabilitation but is a long way from making a full recovery
Neighbours told police they saw only the girl’s two older brothers playing in their backyard and did not know the couple had a third child.
The child has since gained on more than 12kg. The couple’s other children, two older brothers, aged six and four, are also in government care.
A victim impact statement written by a foster carer on the child’s behalf revealed the extent of her malnourishment.
The toddler (pictured after she was taken into care) was so malnourished by her parents she looked like she lived in the Third World
‘For the first 19 months of her her life (the girl) did not receive the basic care to grow and develop,’ the carer said in her statement during the sentencing hearing.
‘[The girl] was defenceless and unable to protect herself from her parents.’
When the carer first encountered the child she was 19 months old but weighed less than 5kg and looked like a three-month-old.
She was shocked by how far the girl was behind in her development.
The child, who had no teeth, could not sit up or even roll over, let alone use her hands for simple tasks such as playing with toys.
‘Caring for [the girl] was like caring for a very young baby,’ the carer said.
The child, now almost three, had made progress but her height and weight were out of proportion.
‘The gains have not come easily,’ the carer said.
‘This crime has had a long-term impact on her development.’
The girl could now crawl, stand and walk and spoke about 20 words.
She had developed a healthy appetite but her short stature meant she was obese.
The mother (pictured with her husband) told a hospital dietitian her entire family followed a vegan diet. She said her daughter would generally have one cup of oats with rice milk and half a banana in the morning, and a piece of toast with jam or peanut butter for lunch
The mother told a hospital dietitian her entire family followed a vegan diet and detailed the extreme eating measures that led to the girl’s condition.
She said her daughter would generally have one cup of oats with rice milk and half a banana in the morning, and a piece of toast with jam or peanut butter for lunch.
For dinner, she said her daughter would be offered tofu, rice or potatoes.
But she said the girl, who was also breastfed once day, was a ‘fussy eater’ so she might just have oats again.
Sometimes for a snack the child was given a mouthful of fruit or two sultanas.
This diet resulted in severe deficiencies in nutrients for the infant, 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’.
More to come