Both parents should have gotten life for this...
... fathers are no less responsible for the care of their children than mothers.
Couple get life in jail for murder of daughter | The Australian
THE murder of the seven-year-old girl was prolonged and excruciating.
Starved by her drug-addicted parents over a period of 20 months, little Ebony deteriorated from a chubby 20kg girl in March 2006 to an emaciated wreck of a child who weighed just 9kg when she died in November 2007.
Yesterday, almost two years after Ebony’s lifeless body was found on her squalid, urine-soaked mattress, her killers -- her own mother and father -- were brought to account.
Her mother, 36, who earlier this year was found guilty of Ebony’s murder at Hawks Nest on NSW’s north coast, was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of release on parole.
Ebony’s father, 48, who was convicted of his daughter’s manslaughter, was sentenced to 16 years behind bars. He will be eligible for parole after serving 12 years.
Before the couple’s sentences were handed down in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Robert Hulme recounted the gruesome details of the crime.
When Ebony, who was autistic, died on November 3, 2007, aged seven years and seven months, she was so malnourished that forensic pathologist Kasinathan Nadesan described her body as “wasted and dehydrated. It looked almost like a mummy to me.”
Her face was distorted, her eyes sunken. There was just a thin layer of skin stretched over her skull. Rigor mortis did not set in because Ebony had virtually no muscles.
The girl’s clothing and bedding were covered with urine and vomit stains; her hair was matted, with faecal remnants trapped in it. And Ebony’s lungs were pink and clean -- consistent with someone who had rarely ventured outdoors. Indeed, the girl was kept a virtual prisoner in her room which, the judge noted, contained not a single toy or decoration, other than a picture of a “sad-looking little girl”.
Justice Hulme said that in the latter part of Ebony’s life, both parents were “so absorbed in their own lives that they did not care about her”.
Ebony, who had three siblings, was excluded from every family celebration and was absent in every family photo taken from July 2006 onwards because, according to her mother, the girl “would make a nuisance of herself on such occasions”.
The judge said the couple’s reckless indifference towards Ebony was “morally reprehensible”.
“The lack of parental love and concern is further confirmed by the fact that in the fortnight between her death and their arrest they made no inquiry whatsoever about when her body would be released from the morgue and they gave no thought to a funeral”.
Justice Hulme said Ebony’s mother had been “unimaginably heartless and cruel”.
“She witnessed her suffering over an extended period and chose not to lift a finger to help her,” he said.
And he said the girl’s father, who was placing internet bets on horse races in the hours after his daughter’s death, “could show no less love to his child”.
Throughout Ebony’s life, she was sporadically taken to see medical specialists for her various ailments, including her speech problems, and her impaired mental development.
But her parents rarely followed up on therapies and recommended programs.
Seven months before Ebony’s death, officers from the NSW Department of Community Services attended the family’s home in relation to the girl’s two older sisters.
The officers asked the mother about Ebony, but she did not allow them to see her daughter because “she was sleeping and would be too distressed to know that the department is involved”.
Couple get life in jail for murder of daughter | The Australian
THE murder of the seven-year-old girl was prolonged and excruciating.
Starved by her drug-addicted parents over a period of 20 months, little Ebony deteriorated from a chubby 20kg girl in March 2006 to an emaciated wreck of a child who weighed just 9kg when she died in November 2007.
Yesterday, almost two years after Ebony’s lifeless body was found on her squalid, urine-soaked mattress, her killers -- her own mother and father -- were brought to account.
Her mother, 36, who earlier this year was found guilty of Ebony’s murder at Hawks Nest on NSW’s north coast, was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of release on parole.
Ebony’s father, 48, who was convicted of his daughter’s manslaughter, was sentenced to 16 years behind bars. He will be eligible for parole after serving 12 years.
Before the couple’s sentences were handed down in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Robert Hulme recounted the gruesome details of the crime.
When Ebony, who was autistic, died on November 3, 2007, aged seven years and seven months, she was so malnourished that forensic pathologist Kasinathan Nadesan described her body as “wasted and dehydrated. It looked almost like a mummy to me.”
Her face was distorted, her eyes sunken. There was just a thin layer of skin stretched over her skull. Rigor mortis did not set in because Ebony had virtually no muscles.
The girl’s clothing and bedding were covered with urine and vomit stains; her hair was matted, with faecal remnants trapped in it. And Ebony’s lungs were pink and clean -- consistent with someone who had rarely ventured outdoors. Indeed, the girl was kept a virtual prisoner in her room which, the judge noted, contained not a single toy or decoration, other than a picture of a “sad-looking little girl”.
Justice Hulme said that in the latter part of Ebony’s life, both parents were “so absorbed in their own lives that they did not care about her”.
Ebony, who had three siblings, was excluded from every family celebration and was absent in every family photo taken from July 2006 onwards because, according to her mother, the girl “would make a nuisance of herself on such occasions”.
The judge said the couple’s reckless indifference towards Ebony was “morally reprehensible”.
“The lack of parental love and concern is further confirmed by the fact that in the fortnight between her death and their arrest they made no inquiry whatsoever about when her body would be released from the morgue and they gave no thought to a funeral”.
Justice Hulme said Ebony’s mother had been “unimaginably heartless and cruel”.
“She witnessed her suffering over an extended period and chose not to lift a finger to help her,” he said.
And he said the girl’s father, who was placing internet bets on horse races in the hours after his daughter’s death, “could show no less love to his child”.
Throughout Ebony’s life, she was sporadically taken to see medical specialists for her various ailments, including her speech problems, and her impaired mental development.
But her parents rarely followed up on therapies and recommended programs.
Seven months before Ebony’s death, officers from the NSW Department of Community Services attended the family’s home in relation to the girl’s two older sisters.
The officers asked the mother about Ebony, but she did not allow them to see her daughter because “she was sleeping and would be too distressed to know that the department is involved”.