• France: A vegan couple sentenced to five years in prison for the death of their baby
  • Health: On trial after the death of your malnourished baby for receiving only vegetable milk

The parents of a severely malnourished Australian girl - who underwent a strict vegan diet as a baby - have been sentenced to 300 hours of social services .

The girl, now three years old, was so malnourished that at 19 months she still had no teeth and looked like a three-month-old baby, according to the British newspaper The Guardian . He also suffered from a bone disease that can be prevented and caused minor fractures. In addition, it had not been vaccinated.

Their vegan diet consisted mainly of oatmeal, potatoes, rice, tofu, bread, peanut butter, rice milk and occasionally fruit . He never received nutritional supplements.

The couple, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in 2018 for not providing their daughter with adequate food, which exposed her to the "danger of serious injury." This Thursday the couple has been sentenced by a court of Downing Center (Sydney) to 18 months in prison, commutable for probation (Intensive Correction Order) and community work.

Medications and supplements

Now that the girl lives with other members of her family in Queensland her health has improved, but she requires speech therapy and physiotherapy and still takes medications and supplements to boost her growth. It also stays physically and mentally below the average of its age.

The couple's two oldest children also live in Queensland. The authorities did not consider them significantly malnourished, but they were behind in their vaccination calendar . The parents maintain intermittent contact with the children but have lost custody of all their children .

Judge Sarah Huggett called negligence reckless rather than intentional, but maintained a firm stance: "It is the responsibility of all parents to ensure that the diet they provide to children is balanced."

"That responsibility is still very important regardless of dietary preference. They had several occasions to appreciate that their daughter was not thriving, " he said.

I had never gone to the doctor

According to the BBC, the authorities hospitalized the girl in March 2018, after the mother called emergency services because her daughter suffered seizures . At that time, the child weighed 4.89 kilograms and had not visited a doctor since she had left the hospital as a newborn.

The girl had severe symptoms of malnutrition: she had blue lips, cold hands and feet, low levels of calcium and blood sugar, as well as poor muscle tone. He could not crawl or sit without help , he had a null bone development, swollen legs due to the accumulation of fluid and still did not speak.

When he started a normal diet in April 2018 and received additional support, he quickly began to grow and his teeth came out.

For her part, Judge Huggett also accused the parents of being inconsistent and liars for having assured the authorities that the girl had occasionally eaten products of animal origin, that they would soon vaccinate her, that she had gone to medical visits and that she was growing.

Now that the parents are separated they have taken parenting courses. Likewise, the mother has sought support for natal and postnatal depression , which, she said, made her feel useless, apathetic and indifferent.

Huggett said there was a low risk of recidivism, but condemned both of them to an order of intensive corrections to send a message of deterrence and denunciation , he said. He also dismissed the father's claim that he had a limited role in caring for the girl and should receive a minor sentence.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Australia
  • Subsistence allowance
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