Cruel drill: Young ballerina (17) almost starved to death by her own parents
Perth (Australia) - She was only allowed to leave the house for ballet lessons. Because they almost starved their 17-year-old daughter to death and completely isolated her from the outside world, an Australian couple now have to answer for their actions in court.
The sad fate of little Ballerina has touched Australia.
A court in Perth is currently hearing a particularly blatant case of child endangerment, report the Daily Mail and ABC.
When police rescued the then 17-year-old from her parents' clutches in April 2021, she weighed just 28 kilos and was only 1.47 meters tall.
The girl was on a strict vegan diet and was home-schooled by her parents. The only social interaction she apparently knew was daily ballet lessons.
In 2019, a concerned dance teacher urged the parents to take the child to a nutritionist and reduce the number of weekly dance lessons from eight to four. The parents refused and enrolled their daughter in another dance school.
The new ballet teacher also had serious concerns about the girl's wellbeing. After a heated discussion with the completely intransigent parents, the woman finally informed the authorities at the end of 2020.
The witness in court: "She was smaller and narrower than other dancers her age, especially at the shoulders and hips." It was horrible to see her like that. "She was just skin and bones."
Horror parents have to answer for their actions in court
The parents were repeatedly asked to have their child examined. When coercive measures were finally threatened, the girl was presented to the doctor on April 1, 2021.
The father told the doctor that his daughter was doing wonderfully well. She had a "fantastic" diet (organic pears, organic strawberries, minestrone soup and ice cream) and was "getting stronger". The man went on to explain that the girl was "full of energy" because she dances eight hours a week. He was not worried and showed a forged birth certificate that changed his daughter's age from 17 to 14.
The doctor saw things differently and had the girl admitted to hospital, where the parents insisted on sleeping next to their daughter and monitored all of the 17-year-old's toilet visits. During the trial, hospital staff described how the patient was treated "like a small child" by her parents, regularly watched the "Teletubbies" and "Thomas the Tank Engine" on her tablet and her mother even went into the bathroom with her to brush her teeth.
In the meantime, the girl was placed in state care. The trial continues.