Australian mother gets life for daughter's death

Oct 2, 2009, 4:56 GMT

   Sydney - The mother of a 7-year-old Australian girl who starved to death was Friday sentenced to life in jail for murdering her daughter.

   The 47-year old father, who blamed his wife for the neglect that left the child weighing just 9 kilograms at the time of her death in 2007, was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 12 years without the possibility of parole.

   Doctors told the court it was the worst case of malnutrition they had seen, one describing the child's head as a 'skull wrapped in skin.'

   Neither of the accused showed any emotion during the 5-week trial.

   The couple's three other children have been taken into care.

   Sentencing the couple, the judge described the 35-year-old mother as 'cold, callous, cruel and heartless towards her own little girl' because 'she witnessed her suffering over an extended period and chose not to lift a finger to help.'

   The couple admitted in court they had lied to police when they said the girl, dubbed Ebony to protect the identity of her siblings, had been happy and healthy the night before she died in her Hawks Nest, New South Wales, home.

   Doctors said Ebony would have suffered a lingering death and been semi-conscious in her final days.

   The disturbing case created ructions because social workers had been advised that the autistic child was at risk of harm from the age of 2, had kept a copious file on her, but had never actually seen her over the remaining 5 years of her life.