DailyMailUK: The parents of a five-month-old boy who died from rickets after they neglected his care because of their religious beliefs were jailed today.
Seventh Day Adventists Nkosiyapha Kunene, 36, and his wife Virginia, 32, from Erith, Kent, who admitted the manslaughter of their son Ndingeko, received three years and two years, three months' imprisonment respectively. The couple admitted the charge at earlier hearings.
‘However the right to manifest one's religion is not absolute. It is limited in particular by the rights of others. The state has a particularly important duty to protect the right to life, especially when a young child is concerned.’
The death of a baby boy from rickets arose from the religious beliefs of parents Nkosiyapha Kunene (right) and his wife, Virginia (left), a court heard today. The couple have admitted the manslaughter of their son, Ndingeko
From birth, he had medical problems, and the judge said it was emphasised on behalf of the couple that the vitamin D deficiency was not diagnosed at that stage, nor was Virginia Kunene given advice about taking supplements.
The mother did not attend a scheduled check up on March 8 and Ndingeko was not seen by a health care professional from then on to the day he died.
‘It is clear that, because of their own religious beliefs, the defendants did not in fact seek medical assistance, their beliefs arose out of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, that church does not approve of medical care being withheld.
He said: ‘There is no suggestion of any ill treatment in the conventional way of neglect or cruelty, it is a neglect to seek proper medical care and then to call medical care at the end.’
The child was born on January 1 2012 and died on June 14 that year, and was suffering from rickets, resulting from a severe Vitamin D deficiency, the court heard.
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