Couple subjected 6yo to ‘life threatening abuse’

A couple who subjected a six year-old boy to “life threatening abuse” that included imprisoning him in a cot in a garage, could be released from jail in less than 19 months.

The pair was sentenced in the District Court today.

BLOG: Is child abuse sentence adequate?

The woman received two years and four months for her role in the crime while her partner received three years and two months. The woman will be eligible for parole in one year and four months and the man in 19 months.

The maximum penalties for the crimes ranged from seven to 10 years jail.

The court was told that the child may well have died if the neglect continued.

The shocking conditions forced upon the six-year-old boy by the couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were revealed in a photo released by police today.

It shows piles of junk surrounding a travel cot covered by wood and rope in which the tiny boy was kept caged, alone and in the dark.

Broken bikes, damaged plastic toys and other household debris surround the cot out of reach of the imprisoned child.

The boy was found by child protection officers bruised, huddled and clutching his knees to his chest in the cot that had been converted to a virtual cage in a darkened garage in November last year.

He was malnourished and weighed just over 12kg.

In sentencing, Judge Kevin Sleight referred to the case as “life-threatening abuse” and “a cruel and bizarre practice” at the upper end of seriousness.

Judge Sleight said the boy appeared to be quite a remarkable young man despite his trauma.

“(The convicted couple) no longer wanted the (child) to be part of the household and resented his presence,” Judge Sleight said.

“They cruelly isolated (the child) from normal everyday household activities and school and failed to provide adequate food or emotional support.

“As a six year old he had no capacity to resist your cruelty. He was totally vulnerable to the abuse inflicted upon you.”
Judge noted living conditions were “in stark contrast” to the couple’s other children.

In sentencing, Judge Sleight told the court that he had taken into account the parenting and “other many challenges” the couple faced in raising six children. The man worked as a fly-in, fly-out miner at the time.

Judge Sleight also noted they had made a generous offer to raise the child and took into account their early guilty pleas and claims they had been suffering anxiety, depression, stress and that the man had an alcohol problem at the time.

The couple pleaded guilty in the District Court in September to charges of reckless conduct resulting in physical, emotional or psychological abuse of the boy from November 1, 2005, to November 9, 2007.

In September, the court was told the couple had neglected the boy so badly over a period of two years that the malnourished child was too weak to even climb out of the cot when police and child protection officers pounced on the family home on November 9, 2007.

Officers found a cot inside a dark garage with a lid tied to the top of it using rope.

They only realised there was a child inside when they turned on the light and discovered the boy huddling in the cot with his knees drawn to his chest.

The court was told the couple claimed they had been forced to detain the boy in the cot because they believed he suffered from a disorder that made him eat excessively.

The pair has also pleaded guilty to unlawfully detaining the child from October 19 to November 9 last year, with the man also admitting assault occasioning bodily harm of the young boy.

The couple also has five biological children, aged up to 15.

PERTH
KATE TARALA and CHRISTIANA JONES