Parents Found Guilty of Starving Ballerina Daughter to Keep Her a Little Girl Forever

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The Australian parents who severely malnourished their daughter on a strict diet, apparently to make her remain a little girl forever, were sentenced to prison terms this week.

In November, a jury found the parents, both 47 and from a wealthy suburb of Perth, guilty of engaging in conduct that caused their child to suffer by failing to provide adequate nutrition, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC.net) reported.

In 2021, the girl weighed just 60 pounds at age 16, prosecutors said, ABC.net reports. She became so emaciated that she had to be hospitalized and placed on a feeding tube, according to WA Today.

Authorities withheld the parents’ identities because their daughter, now 20, was a minor when the crimes took place.

The parents were also found guilty of failing to provide emotional, social and functional development to her, ABC.net reports. The father, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to forging his daughter's birth certificate to make her seem younger than she was.

On Jan. 31, the dad was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail, and the mom was sentenced to five years in jail, according to ABC.net.

During the sentencing hearing, Judge Linda Black had strong words for the parents.

The parents' conduct, including ignoring advice from medical professionals, was "quite simply unfathomable,” she said, ABC.net reports.

"You put your own opinions ahead of what was best for your daughter," Black said.

"You have created a child who is not able to function as an independent adult at the age of more than 20 years old," Black continued. “She’s never been allowed to grow up.”

The daughter appeared in court on Friday to support her parents, who were immediately taken into custody, WA Today reports. She began sobbing when the sentences were announced, ABC.net reports.

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During the trial, prosecutors told jurors how the parents tried to keep their daughter a little girl by dressing her and treating like a preschooler, even though she was 16, WA Today reports.

They homeschooled her, which kept her isolated much of the time, the outlet reports.

When people did see her, they were shocked by her yellow skin and skeletal appearance, prosecutors said, WA Today reports.

Defense attorneys argued that all of this happened because the whole family suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, 9News reported.

Before the sentencing hearing, the daughter had written a statement to the judge saying that she didn’t believe she had been wronged “in any way,” WA Today reports.

Black said she would take the contents of the letter into consideration, but also noted that the daughter might not fully understand what happened to her because she had been so isolated growing up, WA Today reports.

Authorities began investigating the parents after being tipped off by girl’s ballet teachers, who noted they were concerned about how gaunt the child had become, ABC.net reports.

The daughter was taken into state custody when the parents refused to allow her to be given a feeding tube, despite her low weight, prosecutors said, ABC.net reports.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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