Mum's five years jail for neglect stays

Horrific details of a Perth mother's neglect of her twin boys and their baby brother have been revealed with the dismissal of her appeal against convictions for failing to protect the children.

The judgment yesterday says the then nine-year-old twins were so underdeveloped when taken to Princess Margaret Hospital in 2008, a childcare worker had to help them in and out of a car because they could not support their own weight.

The mother was jailed for five years in February after admitting three counts of failing to protect a child from harm or suffering.

The father, who has a mental illness, was also charged but deemed unfit to plead.

At a sentencing hearing, it emerged the siblings were effectively under "house arrest". They were rarely allowed to leave the home, spent time locked in their rooms and had no opportunity to socialise.

The twins were never enrolled at a school and had not engaged in any normal childhood activities. They had physical, psychological and emotional harm from their mother's neglect and lack of care.

The Department for Child Protection first had contact with the family in 2007 when the mother accepted support, she then could not be found. It was again alerted by neighbours of the family's East Perth rental home in mid 2008.

A childcare worker found the children anxious, frightened, devoid of social skills and could not communicate properly.

One twin spoke in whispers, the other not at all. The children were deficient in vitamin D from lack of sunlight and medical conditions linked to an inadequate diet.

The mother refused to accept the children needed medical attention so they were removed and put in foster care in November 2008.

Yesterday, three Supreme Court judges unanimously rejected the mother's claim she misunderstood the charges and did not consciously accept her guilt. They said she negotiated changes to the charges and accepted the facts.