Comments on: Blake Ward and Sharon Ward

By: DTM

DTM — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:53:25 +0000

Finally!!!! The verdict –

“Yesterday, almost two years after Ebony’s lifeless body was found on her squalid, urine-soaked mattress, her killers — her own mother and father — were brought to account.

Her mother, 36, who earlier this year was found guilty of Ebony’s murder at Hawks Nest on NSW’s north coast, was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of release on parole.

Ebony’s father, 48, who was convicted of his daughter’s manslaughter, was sentenced to 16 years behind bars. He will be eligible for parole after serving 12 years.

Before the couple’s sentences were handed down in the NSW Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Robert Hulme recounted the gruesome details of the crime. ”

for the full story…

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26158489-2702,00.html

By: NavyCop

NavyCop — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:43:20 +0000

They are idiots. That’s a fact. A friend of mine has three autistic boys. He hasn’t killed any of them. He’s a damn saint compared to most parents with normal kids.
Autism is difficult to deal with, true, however not so difficult that it drives normal people to murder their child. If it gets beyond your level of parenting, then put the child up for adoption! Let him/her go to a place where he/she will be loved and cared for!

By: AgJu

AgJu — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:26:14 +0000

Did they just not want to take care of her because she’s autistic? Why would they leave her locked in her room, going to the bathroom in her own room, and starving to death? It’s just awful.

By: frances monsbourgh

frances monsbourgh — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:47:33 +0000

where is shelly buried? Or not till after the sentences? how can one find out?

By: DTM

DTM — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:20:35 +0000

Both matters were adjourned to the Supreme Court in Newcastle for August 6 and 7.

By: DTM

DTM — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:03:14 +0000

The father’s legal counsel, Mark Austin, asked for a six week adjournment to allow time for psychiatric reports to be prepared before the sentencing hearing.

The mother’s lawyer, Dennis Stewart, said he had two such reports ready, and her sentencing hearing was set down for 10am on Wednesday.

Justice Robert Allan Hulme told the jurors counselling was available to them, and advised them to take advantage of the service if they felt it would be of benefit.

He also thanked them for their diligence.

The couple’s three other daughters remain in the custody of the Department of Community Services.

By: DTM

DTM — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:53:37 +0000

A mother has been convicted of murdering her seven-year-old autistic daughter who starved to death.

The girl’s father has been found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter in the NSW Supreme Court this afternoon.

The 47-year-old man and his 35-year-old wife, who can not be named for legal reasons, were arrested at Albion Park Railway Station in November 2007, shortly after the girl’s body was discovered in the bedroom of the family’s Hawks Nest home.

An autopsy found the girl died of malnutrition and dehydration caused by starvation.

The child weighed just 9kg at the time of her death, and doctors testified during the trial that she had suffered the most severe case of malnutrition they had ever seen.

Her condition was likened to that of Holocaust victims, while one medical expert said the child’s head resembled a skull wrapped in skin.

A jury of six men and six women returned their verdicts in East Maitland Supreme Court shortly after 2.15pm this afternoon, on their sixth day of deliberations.

By: DTM

DTM — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:47:47 +0000

Hey Max, a hung jury usually means a re-trial, but I don’t know a lot about it. All I know is the law here is slack in making punishments fit the crime. One guy bashed a toddler to death and got 7 years. The harshest punishments seem to come to those who steal money and such…it’s a disgrace.