By the time the girl was admitted to hospital, her hair was brittle, her skin was flaking, and she was so malnourished that doctors said she was at risk of cardiac arrest and death. She was 17 but looked much younger. Witnesses at the hospital said her parents treated her as if she were a small child. They took her to the bathroom, wiped her bottom, blew her nose and brushed her hair as she watched cartoons more suitable for toddlers. She weighed just 60 pounds (27.3 kilograms) – about the same size as a 9-year-old. Last month her parents, an Australian couple in their mid-40s, were sentenced to prison in Perth’s District Court of Western Australia for neglecting their only child, even as they ferried her to and from piano and ballet lessons. Neither the parents nor their daughter can be identified, according to an Australian law that seeks…
