A mother who kept her daughter in a drawer for the first three years of her life was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for “extreme neglect” at Chester Crown Court.
According to investigators, the girl “never knew daylight or fresh air,” our BBC colleagues report. The condemned mother’s own family was unaware of the very existence of this little child. It was the mother’s partner, challenged by tears, who discovered the victim by chance.
“Overwhelming horror”
The judge in charge of this case, Steven Everett, ruled that the mother had “deprived this little girl of all love, all affection, all attention, all social interaction, an adequate diet and necessary medical care.”
“This little girl is slowly coming back to life, after living in a room almost dead. (…) Her terrible secret has been discovered. I don’t remember such a serious case in 46 years,” continued the judge, who He points out that the victim did not even know his name.
The girl, now in foster care, suffers from severe malnutrition, a cleft palate, rashes, deformities and many other health problems, the court heard.
During the hearing, a social worker who intervened at the home after the victim’s discovery said she was “surprised that the mother did not show any emotion.”
“I looked at her mother and asked, ‘Is this where you have her?’ The mother replied matter-of-factly: ‘Yes, in the drawer,'” he told the court.
“It was an overwhelming horror to know that I was probably the only face (the daughter) had seen besides her mother,” the welfare officer testified.
Before investigators, the victim’s mother explained that she was “very afraid” during childbirth, believing that the child “was not part of the family.”
Source: BFM TV
