A 6 year-old 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. The only light was sunlight coming under the garage door. He was malnourished and weighed just over 12kg. The boy was given one or two meals a day, water, a screwdriver and saucepan to bang together when he needed to toilet. His body mass was so low that two months after going in to new care he suffered mild cardiac failure and returned to hospital.
His foster mother, 34, was jailed on Nov 7th for two years and eight months for reckless neglect of the boy. The woman also has five biological children, aged up to 15. Her husband, 31, the father of three of the six children, received a maximum jail term of three years and two months for assaulting the boy.
All the five natural children of the woman were well cared. The judge read from the woman's police statement, where she described resenting the boy because he was not one of her natural children. She made his bedroom in the shed so he was out of the way of the family, the court was told.
Date: 2008-11-07
Placement type: Foster care
Type of abuse: Non-lethal physical abuse, Non-lethal neglect, Non-lethal deprivation
Abuser: Foster father, Foster mother
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Australia