Parents accused of starving malnourished teenage daughter failed to heed teacher’s concerns, court hears

The teenager was so thin she had “thin” arms and was at risk of broken bones if she jumped around too much, the trial of her parents, accused of starving her, heard.

WARNING: This story contains details that may be upsetting to some.

The District Court heard graphic evidence of the girl’s weight, with the dance teacher raising the alarm about the girl’s condition and telling the jury she believed she was malnourished.

The parents are accused of behavior that resulted in harm to the child.

The dance teacher said the girl had “a big head, a petite body and very thin arms.”

She wore “pretty little dresses” and had fluffy toys, and her mother always waited until school ended when other parents usually dropped off their girls.

Photos presented in court show the girl with dancers aged 11 and 12 and appears smaller than them, although she was about 13 at the time.

By 2018, the teacher said the girl seemed “smaller and weaker” and there were fears she might suffer a stress fracture or other injury.

“We didn’t think she could handle that many jumps,” the teacher told the court.

The teacher said that by 2019, the girl’s arms had become “thin” and she thought the girl was “maybe malnourished.”

The girl was a vegan

The teacher told the court she had become increasingly concerned about her child’s nutrition because, as a physiotherapist working in hospitals, she knew the signs of anorexia.

She said the teenager told her she was vegan and she made several attempts to discuss the situation with her mother, but her concerns were ignored.

In 2019, the teacher said the girl was “not progressing developmentally” and advised the mother to see a doctor.

However, the mother was “adamant” that her daughter was “perfectly fine”, claiming she was a premature baby.

By this time, the father had also intervened, calling the dance teacher “very upset that we kept pestering” the mother in the studio, the teacher said, telling her his daughter was under “a lot of stress.”

In 2020, the parents agreed to meet with the school’s teacher and principal, who told them their daughter was “weak” and “tired” during classes.

“They just kept brushing us off.”

The teacher said they raised concerns about the girl’s diet, asking what she ate instead of meat, but the parents claimed their daughter was simply “short”.

“They just brushed us off,” the teacher said, even though their daughter had not gained weight in three years.

The parents believed the teacher and principal were “overly worried and overly concerned,” she told the court, and “refused the medical examination completely.”

“There is underweight, and there is borderline (anorexia),” the teacher said.

She said the father claimed his daughter was discriminated against because she was vegan.

The dance school has sought legal advice on what it should do if it suffers a stress fracture or injury, and whether it has the power to contact a doctor about the girl’s plight.

“I didn’t want it on my head,” the teacher told the court.

Parents also raised red flags by claiming their daughter was younger than she actually was, the teacher said.

But the school said she could not legally insist on a medical examination.

The court was previously told that when the girl was eventually admitted to hospital in 2021 aged 17, she was found to be malnourished and dangerously underweight at just 27kg.

Doctors determined that the 17-year-old teenager had the height and size of a much younger girl, and his tastes and preferences were childish.

However, she did not have an eating disorder.

The trial continues.

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