An eastern suburbs couple have avoided jail after feeding their toddler a vegan diet that caused her to become so malnourished she didn't have any teeth.
NSW District Court judge Sarah Huggett sentenced both of the parents, who also didn't vaccinate the now-three-year-old, to 18-month intensive corrections orders, saying full-time custody would deprive their three children of an "important bond".
The reckless failure of these offenders to provide their daughter with the necessities of life in fact caused serious harm," Judge Huggett said during her sentencing remarks at the Downing Centre on Thursday.
The father, 35, and the mother, 33, who lived in Queens Park when they were arrested in April 2018, cried throughout the sentencing before embracing one another at the end.
They had both earlier pleaded guilty to failing to provide for the child, causing danger of serious injury.
Judge Huggett said the parents – who cannot be named as it would identify the child – abided by a strict vegan diet and that their daughter's diet was "similarly conservative".
Court documents reveal she was fed oats, potatoes, rice, tofu, bread, peanut butter and rice milk. A mouthful of fruit or two sultanas were her snacks.
The mother called triple-0 when the girl suffered a seizure in March 2018. The child was "floppy", her lips her blue and her eyes were rolling into the back of her head.
On arrival to hospital she was found to be severely malnourished and suffering a preventable bone disease, which a team of doctors later agreed was the result of a strict diet.
"The child was severely malnourished, underweight and undersized, and delayed as far as age-appropriate milestones were concerned," Judge Huggett said.
