A Perth couple jailed for starving and abusing a six year-old boy have had their minimum prison sentences increased almost fourfold.
The boy, a foster child of the mother, was locked in a portable cot in a dark garage at the couple's home to isolate him from five other children.
The woman was jailed in November last year for a maximum two years and eight months, with a non-parole period of one year and four months.
The woman's husband, who fixed the contraption that held the boy, was jailed for three years and two months, with a minimum one year and six month term.
Following a crown appeal against the leniency of the sentences, the West Australian Court of Appeal on Tuesday handed down its unanimous decision to increase the maximum sentences of both to seven years.
The man, who was also ordered to serve an extra six months for physically assaulting the boy, will serve five and a half years before he is eligible for release.
The woman will have to serve a minimum five years.
When they were originally sentenced in the WA District Court, the hearing was told the boy had stopped growing when he was four-and-a-half years old.
By the time he was taken to Perth's children's hospital in November 2007, his body was bruised while he weighed 12kg and was severely malnourished
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/837353/jail-term-raised-for-pair-who-abused-boy
Subject: Jail term raised for pair who abused boy 
July 14th 2009, 10:51 am
