Probation for couple

Press, 17 December 1976, Page 21

Probation for couple

A married couple who wilfully neglected their five-year-old daughter for 11 months to July this year were both placed on probation for 18 months by Mr N. L. Bradford, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The couple, in their late twenties, whose names have been suppressed, were convicted last week on a charge of wilfully neglecting their five-year-old daughter in a manner likely to cause her unnecessary suffering. When the child was removed from their custody by a Department of Social Welfare officer who had a search warrant, she was admitted to hospital and found to have several fractured limbs which had not been treated by a doctor. She also ■had bruising on her buttocks,

and appeared to have been hit with a wooden paddle. A cut lip indicated that she had been force fed, the Court was told. “There is nothing as defenceless as a small child in that situation,’’ the Magistrate said when sentencing the couple. It was a case of wilful neglect under the most shocking circumstances. “I’d be perfectly justified in sending you both to prison, the only thing that stops me is the fact that you both impressed Dr Dobson as having limited capacity,” he said. The husband should have given more support to his wife, caring for their three children when they were under three years old (the couple have twins, now aged four), and should have spent more time at home.

Counsel (Mrs J. Johnstone) said that the mother knew her daughter was run down. The girl had fallen off a tricycle, and had been pushed off a chair by her little sister when she was 17 months old, causing the fractures, she said. There was some conflict between the five-year-old and her vounger sister.

The mother said she was scared to take the girl to the doctor for treatment because she feared that a fatal illness might be diagnosed. Since the girl had been placed in a foster home, she had been visited by her parents every Sunday after-1 noon. They were most anxious, 1 to work towards getting her back home, said Mrs JohnI stone.