http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...tarving-children/story-e6frg6nf-1226004694273
Luke Armistead, 38, his de facto partner Tania Staker, 36, her brother Michael Quinlivan, 27, and Armistead's stepfather Robert, 41, were yesterday sentenced in the South Australian Supreme Court for their roles in one of the nation's most serious cases of child neglect.
The case came to light when the youngest of Luke Armistead's five children with another woman, who cannot be named, was rushed to hospital from their Parafield Gardens home in Adelaide's northern suburbs in June 2008. The unconscious boy, then aged four, had scabies and open wounds, was malnourished and had a body temperature of 26C.
The family had originally
lived in Geelong in what authorities had dubbed the "house of horrors", where the odour of urine and animal faeces was everpresent and a dead dog was left to rot in the yard. The mother then moved to Adelaide, living in the same house as Staker and Armistead, and began a relationship with Quinlivan.
The court heard that the ringleader, Staker, targeted the children because she was jealous of their mother. Over a four-month period, Staker, the mother, both Armisteads and Quinlivan forced the children to line up for hours.
At times their hands and feet were bound. If fed, they were given scraps from leftover chips or noodles after the five adults and 16 other children had eaten. The children were also hit by the adults and choked to force them to vomit food stolen in desperation.