Indian-Australian couple jailed for manslaughter of their daughter

SYDNEY - New South Wales Supreme Court, has sentenced an Indian-Australian couple, Thomas Sam and his wife Manju, for at least six years and four years in jail respectively for the manslaughter of their eczema-stricken daughter.

Both were accused of “gross criminal negligence” by failing to get proper treatment for their nine-month-old baby Gloria, who was malnourished despite being properly fed, as all the nutrition had gone into coping with her severe eczema.

She died in Sydney in May 2002 from an infection her body could not fight.

Sam and Manju were convicted in June for mainly relying on homeopathic remedies instead of seeking proper treatment.

Thomas Sam faces a maximum jail term of eight years, while his wife faces a maximum sentence of five years and four months.

“Thomas Sam’s arrogant approach to his preference for homeopathy above conventional medicine, and Manju Sam’s deference to her husband, had led to Gloria’s death,” News.com.au quoted Justice Peter Johnson, as saying.

“A very wide chasm lay between how they had acted and how any other reasonable parent would have acted. The omission of the parents to seek proper assistance for her can be characterised accurately as cruelty,” Justice Johnson added. (ANI)