A Shoalhaven woman who pleaded guilty to neglecting a child has been jailed for two years.
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The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons in order to protect the child's identity, was charged with failing to provide for a child causing danger of death.
Her co-accused, a male, is still before the courts,
The 26-year-old woman pleaded guilty to the charge before Magistrate Gabriel Fleming in Nowra Local Court on Wednesday and was sentenced to two years’ jail with a non-parole period of six months.
The woman and the man, then aged 34, first came to the notice of police on December 12, 2015, after a member of the public contacted authorities with concerns for the welfare of a child.
Officers from Shoalhaven Local Area Command attended a home and found a girl, then aged four, in an emaciated state.
Police who were first on the scene at the family’s Shoalhaven home said they were horrified by the child's physical appearance after seeing her in just a T-shirt and nappy. The child was cold to touch.
They said she appeared "extremely underweight", had yellow, jaundiced skin on most of her body, however her lower legs and feet were purple in colour, with red patches.
The child was immediately taken to hospital by paramedics who made similar observations about her condition, court documents stated.
Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse Squad investigated the incident, with the girl and a sibling (aged one) removed from the couple’s care.
The man and woman were arrested and charged by police on December 31.
If the child had not been taken into care it was likely she would have progressed towards emaciation and death from starvation over a few weeks.
- Doctor's report
A doctor’s report presented to the court said if the child had not been taken into care it was likely she would have progressed towards emaciation and death from starvation over a few weeks.
The report described the girl as being “grossly malnourished with severe developmental regression with emotional withdrawal”.
And it “remained to be seen if the victim would be permanently stunted due to the period of malnutrition”.
When interviewed by police, the woman said the child “had a good diet … healthy food … and enjoyed a lots of exercise”.
She said she and her partner had discussed taking the girl to a doctor to discuss her height, weight and apparent speech problems, but had not followed through.
Medicare records show the child had not been to a doctor since June 2013.
The papers said the woman “suffered chronic anxiety and depression, social avoidance with underlying borderline personality disorder”.
She will be eligible for parole June 12 next year.
