Parents of a baby who died, aged seven months, from dehydration and malnutrition, will not appeal their six-month suspended sentence. This was passed by the Termonde Criminal Court and their lawyer stated that they are not wanting to appeal. Both accused parents, originally from East Flanders, fed the child on vegetable milk, without checking with the doctor first. They believed that he was suffering from a lactose and gluten intolerance.
The baby had been urgently admitted to the hospital in Hasselt on June 6th, 2014. However the doctors could do nothing but certify his death. The child, who weighed 4.3 kilogrammes, was dehydrated. The inquest carried out following his death enabled experts to establish that the little boy was undernourished.
For four months, the parents had fed him oat’s milk, rice, buckwheat and quinoa, after several attempts at breastfeeding and feeding him powdered milk. The baby suffered from a lack of proteins, minerals and vitamins. The Public Prosecutor, who demanded an 18-month prison sentence, said that no doctor had observed that the child had a lactose or gluten intolerance.
The lawyer for both accused parents, argued for the acquittal of her clients, as they had not intentionally desired their baby’s death. As alluded to earlier, the Termonde Criminal Court sentenced the parents on June 14th, to a six-month suspended prison sentence.
The Brussels Times
