A teenager with “wafer-thin” arms who was so emaciated she risked fractures if she jumped around too much in dance class was allegedly put on a strict diet by her parents, given children toys and kept her out of sight.
Just before her 17th birthday, the girl weighed less than 28kg and was 147cm tall, but her father had altered her birth certificate to make it appear that she was only 14 years old.
The home-schooled vegan girl received intensive dance training, her only social interaction outside the home in Perth, Western Australia, where the only daughter lived with her parents.
When a ballet teacher in her dance classes raised concerns about the girl’s weight to her mother, the mother was “adamant” that her daughter was “completely fine”, the Western Australian District Court heard.
Child protection authorities were alerted, but a worker’s repeated attempts to have the “malnourished” teenager medically examined were allegedly ignored by her parents for four months.
The parents, who cannot be named to protect the girl’s identity, are on trial in Perth court after pleading not guilty to charges of having care or control of a child and engaging in conduct that was reckless and could have resulted in that child’s suffering. .
The girl (above, in dance class) weighed only 28kg before her 17th birthday and was 147.5cm tall, but her parents refused to see that she was malnourished and resisted seeing a doctor.
The girl followed a strict vegan diet and was treated like a child, watched Wiggles and Thomas the Tank Engine and was given a Barbie on her 17th birthday when she weighed 28kg.
The girl’s mother did not want doctors to evaluate her 17-year-old daughter, who sang the Teletubbies and Wiggles with her and scheduled teeth cleanings and supervised bathroom visits.
After dance teachers and parents of some fellow students lodged complaints with Western Australia’s Department of Communities, it opened an active investigation in late 2020.
Told to take his daughter to see a doctor, the father went to see a GP and asked for a letter he could give to the authorities stating his daughter was healthy, the court heard.
The family doctor refused, and when children’s authorities showed up at the couple’s home and asked to see the girl, the father allegedly came out and stood outside the front door, and the workers did not see the girl.
On April 1, 2021, the parents were pressured to take the child to a GP at a Perth medical centre.
The parents allegedly filled out paperwork stating the girl was 14, which they later claimed was a mistake. In court last week, the father pleaded guilty to altering his birth certificate.
At the time of the visit to the GP, the girl was almost 17 years old, was 147.5 centimeters tall and weighed 27.3 kilograms, the average weight of a nine-year-old child.
The girl’s dance teacher said her ‘wafer-thin arms’ and small frame were at risk of stress fractures if she jumped in class and lodged a complaint with the WA Department of Communities.
The girl’s father allegedly “laughed” at the suggestion that his daughter’s emaciated condition put her at risk of cardiac arrest, but has not pleaded guilty to altering her birth certificate.
She had never menstruated, despite having entered puberty, and the father had assured child protection workers that the girl had a “fantastic diet” and was “getting stronger.”
He said she had “good energy”, danced up to eight hours a week and was not worried about her health.
The parents told the family doctor that she normally ate organic pears and strawberries, minestrone soup, and ice cream.
The doctor, who later told a child protection worker that she was “gravely concerned” about the girl, She urged the parents to immediately take her to Perth Children’s Hospital for emergency admission.
The WA District Court heard the parents did not want to stress the girl as they were mourning the death of their 22-year-old cat a few days earlier.
The parents refused to allow their daughter to 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 at the suggestion.
The parents, who timed the girl while she brushed her teeth and told her when to spit, wanted to sleep in the hospital ward where she stayed for 50 days, gained 7 kg and grew 3.4 cm.
At Perth Children’s Hospital, staff noticed the girl watching videos such as Thomas the Tank Engine and gave her a Barbie doll for her 17th birthday.
When told that the child protection investigation would continue unless they took the girl to hospital, the parents finally did so on April 7.
Doctors at Perth Children’s Hospital diagnosed the girl with grade 4 malnutrition and ordered x-rays and the insertion of a nasogastric tube for five days before instituting a feeding plan.
The Perth court heard the parents were opposed to the treatment, protesting that the girl was naturally thin and had been a premature baby.
The parents, who were revealed to be supervising the girl’s bathroom visits at the hospital, wanted to sleep in the ward near her but were denied.
During the hospital stay, staff allegedly observed the girl’s mother setting a timer for brushing her teeth and giving her permission to spit.
The girl was legally taken in by the Washington Department of Communities and treatment was enforced.
During a 50-day stay in the hospital, the girl gained 7 kg and grew 3.4 cm.
But hospital workers claimed she had been treated like a little child and watched Wiggles, Teletubbies and Thomas the Tank Engine, although an assessment of her schoolwork and piano skills showed “no cognitive impairment”.
The girl’s father said she had “a fantastic diet”, but at the hospital she was diagnosed with grade 4 malnutrition and during a 50-day stay she gained 7kg and grew 3.4cm.
It was a teacher at Silhouette Dance Studio who raised the alarm about the girl’s diminutive weight and emaciated figure, lodging a complaint with WA child care authorities.
For her 17th birthday in the hospital, her parents gave her a Barbie doll and tried to arrange a visit from the Disney Princess.
The court also heard from a dance teacher who had raised concerns about the girl two years before she was finally hospitalized.
The teacher said that the girl. She wore ‘nice dresses,’ she had stuffed animals, and her mother didn’t leave the girl like other parents, but always waited at Silhouette Dance Studio, about 10 minutes from her house, during class.
Among the photographs shown in court, the girl, aged 13, is shown alongside others in the dance class, aged 11 and 12, who are older than her.
The teacher said the girl appeared to be becoming “smaller and weaker” and there were concerns she would not be able to cope with the necessary jumps and could suffer stress fractures.
He was worried that the girl had anorexia, but in Several attempts to discuss the situation with the mother were dismissed.
A lawyer for the mother told the court that the woman showered her daughter with love and gave her everything she needed, but was a picky eater.
The trial continues.