Child's head was 'skull wrapped in skin'
AAP June 2, 2009, 5:40 pm
It would have been clear a seven-year-old girl was dying from starvation because her head resembled a skull wrapped in skin, a medical specialist has told a jury. The seven-year-old was found dead at the family's home at Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle, on November 3, 2007.
Her parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, are standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to one count each of murder.
Gastroenterologist Dr Edward O'Loughlin told the jury on Tuesday the girl was probably unable to walk or even sit up on the night before her death. "Very unlikely - in fact, I think it would have been highly likely to an onlooker she was in the process of dying," Dr O'Loughlin told the court. But, he said, he believed the girl could still have been saved had she been treated even hours before death. "In the last days of her life, she would have been incapable of eating or drinking," Dr O'Loughlin said.
"(But) even if hours from death from malnutrition you could salvage the patient and save them." Dennis Stewart, for the mother, asked the specialist whether it was possible the girl could have resisted food the day before her death. "That's possible, but when you get to that point you should be in a hospital being treated," Dr O'Loughlin replied.
The gastroenterologist earlier told the jury he had reviewed the case, including evidence from a post-mortem examination. He said it was one of the most severe cases he had seen after treating "many hundreds" of malnourished children over 25 years. "(I've) never looked after someone so malnourished," he said. "I've seen pictures in textbooks and of Holocaust victims but I've never treated anyone this malnourished."
Asked to describe the girl's state of emaciation, he said it gave her the "appearance of a skull wrapped in skin". "There was faeces in her hair, which would indicate, to me, a serious state of neglect. "She was one of the most profoundly malnourished images I have ever seen. She needed to be in hospital in an intensive care unit."
On the final day of prosecution evidence, the court also heard police advised the parents to leave (??) their Hawks Nest home to escape constant media pressure just seven days before their arrest on NSW's south coast. Detective Sergeant Robert Gregory said police had difficulty finding the couple after they left Hawks Nest and launched a media appeal on November 16, 2007, to find them. They were arrested the next day at Albion Park Rail, south of Wollongong.
Sgt Gregory said the father needed medication when the couple were taken to Port Kembla police station. "His hands were shaking vigorously. He was extremely pale," he said. The father was given Valium in hospital then taken back to the police station. "He had settled down and wasn't shaking any more," Sgt Gregory said.
The court has previously heard the 47-year-old had been addicted to prescription drugs since he was 18, taking up to 500 Valium tablets each month. The trial before Justice Robert Allan Hulme at East Maitland continues.
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Comments:
SO, the parents have taken 500 valium tablets each months, when they were younger, BUT does that justified their crime on their helpless child?
URLhttp://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5622017/couple-jump-off-uk-cliff-with-dead-child/ (3rd June 2009)
Couple jump off UK cliff with dead child
AAP June 3, 2009, 10:05 am
Police say a five-year-old boy whose body was found at a British beauty spot with those of his parents had died from meningitis at his home four days earlier, according to reports. Sam Puttick's body was found in a rucksack, next to the bodies of Kazumi and Neil Puttick, at the bottom of a cliff. It's believed Sam's parents were grief-stricken over his death, and jumped to their deaths.
Coastguards found the three bodies at the base of a notorious suicide spot at Beachy Head, in East Sussex on Monday. A second rucksack found by rescuers nearby was filled with toys. Sussex Police said they were not treating the deaths as suspicious. "We are investigating exactly what led to this terrible tragedy but a line of inquiry is that the parents were so overcome with grief at their son's fairly sudden death that they decided they could not bear to go on without him," a police source told the Daily Mail.
"He had a short illness and died at home, of natural causes. They seem to have been a normal family struck by awful circumstances." Eastbourne Coastguard station officer Stuart McNab said they discovered the two rucksacks, one containing the child's body, and the other filled with toys.
"The bag was closed when I got to it. I saw what I thought was a doll's head, but on closer examination it was a child," he told reporters at the scene.
"The bag was closed when I got to it. I saw what I thought was a doll's head, but on closer examination it was a child," he told reporters at the scene.
Friend Sue Capon told the BBC they both lived for Sam. "Neil and Kazumi gave 110% to Sam," she said. "Their life was Sam and without him their life did not mean anything to them. They were devoted to one another as well as to their child and it's just such a sad ending."
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Is that a wise thing to do, spoiling your own child by giving him 110 %?? Worst still, the parents committed suicide when their child suddenly died of an illness.
