Homeopath, wife jailed for manslaughtering sick daughter in Oz

Under a case of manslaughter of their 9 month old daughter, the New South Wales Supreme Court in Australia has sentenced 42 year old Thomas Sam and his 37 year old wife Manju to prison. The couple failed to seek proper medical care for their daughter, as a result of which the child died.

Sentencing a six year term for Thomas and a four year one for Manju, the court held them guilty of ‘gross criminal negligence’ towards their baby girl, suffering from eczema.

The couple having known of her serious condition had refrained from providing the child with proper medical care and instead kept her solely on homeopathic treatment. Thomas himself is a homeopathic doctor.

The baby girl had become severely malnutritioned, as all her nutrition went into fighting the disease and she eventually succumbed to an infection in Sydney, in May 2002.

Terming the approach of the father as 'arrogant', the court blamed him for preferring homeopathy over other available conventional treatments. The court found their reactions far from the acts of any reasonable parents and Justice Peter Johnson even went on to call them acts of cruelty.

He said that the couple had fallen short of its parental obligations and thus, was responsible for Gloria’s death.