A mother from Perth’s affluent western suburbs remains behind bars after her attempt to secure release was thwarted. She was incarcerated last January for the reckless neglect of her malnourished teenage daughter.

This 48-year-old resident of Floreat received a five-year prison sentence upon being convicted in the Perth District Court. Her 17-year-old daughter, who was shockingly thin at just 27.3 kg, suffered from a lack of proper nutrition, medical attention, and emotional care.

The girl’s father was sentenced to six years in prison. His offenses included falsifying his daughter’s birth certificate to suggest she was younger than her true age.

Medical professionals had raised alarms, stating the young aspiring ballerina’s life was at risk without immediate medical intervention.

Both parents, whose identities are protected by legal constraints, have filed appeals against their sentences. These appeals are scheduled to be examined by the WA Supreme Court next year.

While awaiting the appeal, the mother sought bail, but her request was denied this week. According to ABC News, she alleged a ‘miscarriage of justice,’ citing that Judge Linda Black did not pause the trial during her illness.

Judge Black allowed the mother to watch the trial in a remote room through a video link after she was unable to attend court for several days because of a stomach illness a doctor said may be contagious.

In the Court of Appeal this week Justice Robert Mazza dismissed the bail application, saying there was nothing before the court that showed the mother was prejudiced in the trial or that her short periods of inattention would have affected the outcome. 

The girl (above, at dance class) weighed just 28kg before her 17th birthday and was 147.5cm tall but her parents refused to see she was malnourished and resisted seeing a doctor

The daughter begged the court not to jail her parents because she would ‘end up homeless’, as she claimed she was responsible for the position they were in (the daughter is pictured in the pink blazer, middle, as she attended court for her parents sentencing)

The father, who previously pleaded guilty to forging his daughter’s birth certificate, was sentenced to 6.5 years behind bars, while the mother was handed a five-year term (pictured: the parents outside court at an earlier hearing)

Judge Black said the girl, who cannot be identified as she was a child when the offending took place, was taken into state care after she was hospitalised in 2021 and her parents repeatedly interfered with the care she was receiving.  

The vegan, home-schooled girl underwent intensive dance training, her only social interaction outside of the family home in Perth.

When a ballet teacher raised concerns about the girl’s weight with her mother, the mother was ‘adamant’ her daughter was ‘completely fine’, a previous court hearing heard.

She had never menstruated, despite having entered puberty, and the father had assured child protection workers the girl had a ‘fantastic diet’ and was ‘getting stronger’. 

After dance teachers and the parents of fellow students lodged complaints with Western Australia’s Department of Communities, it opened an active investigation in late 2020. 

The parents told the GP she typically ate organic pears, organic strawberries, minestrone soup and ice-cream.

The doctor, who later told a child protection worker she was ‘gravely concerned’ about the girl, urged the parents to take her immediately to Perth Children’s Hospital for emergency admission.

The girl presented the hospital severely malnourished on April 7, 2021.   

The girl was on a strict vegan diet and treated like a child, watched the Wiggles and Thomas the Tank Engine and was given a Barbie for the 17th birthday when she weighed 28kg

The court heard the parents repeatedly lied about their daughter’s age and health to concerned community members, medical practitioners and the authorities in the years prior.

‘I simply do not and cannot accept that the two of you needed someone to point out to you that your daughter was starving, that she was fading away,’ Judge Black said.

‘That she was failing to grow, that she was failing to thrive. You engaged in wilful blindness of the most extreme kind.’

The parents refused to let their daughter have an ECG because it was ‘too intrusive’ and when told the girl was at risk of death or cardiac arrest, the father allegedly laughed off the suggestion.

Judge Black said the girl, who weighed 14kg aged six years and 21kg at age 13, had stunted growth and was underdeveloped for her age, weighing the same as an average nine-year-old when she was 17.

She said the couple had not let their daughter grow up and develop, partly because the mother feared losing her.

The girl was homeschooled and her parents strictly controlled her movements and social engagements, such as attending dance classes.

Perth Children’s Hospital doctors diagnosed the girl with grade 4 malnutrition, and ordered X-rays and a nasogastric feeding tube be inserted for five days before instituting a meal plan.

The girl’s dance teacher said her ‘wafer thin arms’ and tiny body was at risk of stress fractures if she jumped in class and lodged a complaint with WA’s Department of Communities

The Perth court heard the parents opposed the treatment, protesting the girl was naturally slender and had been a premature baby.

During a 50-day stay in hospital, the girl gained 7kg and grew 3.4cm.

But hospital workers claimed that she had been treated like a small child and that she watched the Wiggles, the Teletubbies and Thomas the Tank Engine, although an assessment of her schoolwork and piano skills showed ‘no cognitive impairment’.

For her 17th birthday in hospital, her parents gave her a Barbie doll and tried to organise a Disney Princess visit.

‘By the time your 17-year-old daughter was hospitalised despite your protests she was watching Tellytubbies… Thomas the Tank Engine and having princess birthday parties,’ Judge Black said.

During the case the daughter begged the court not to jail her parents because she would ‘end up homeless’, and claimed she was responsible for the position they were in.

I’m becoming stressed, anxious and worried about the possibility of my parents going to prison,’ she wrote.

‘I love my parents very much. They are the most important people in my life. If my parents go to prison, I don’t think I will be able to cope.’