Mum and stepdad left daughter, 5, in cold bath as 'tortuous punishment for misbehaviour' leaving her 'just minutes from death'
13.09.2022 - 11:19
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A five-year-old girl was forced to lie in a bath full of cold water by her mum and stepdad for 'between one to three hours' as a 'punishment for misbehaviour' a judge described as 'extreme, calculated and tortuous' - leaving her just 'minutes from death', a court heard.
A paediatric consultant said she had never seen a patient with a core temperature as low as 25C who had survived, saying her condition was 'more consistent with someone who had fallen into the North Sea'.
Paramedics found the girl sat on a couch at her home with her eyes open but unresponsive. She was blue and frothing at the mouth, the court heard. She suffered a seizure at hospital and her body was warmed with a special machine to increase her core temperature.
The judge at Leeds Crown Court, however, said she now 'appears to be thriving' living with her biological dad, reports Yorkshire Live. Heartbreakingly, the court heard the girl gave a statement to police in which she said she had laid down because 'mummy asked her to', saying it 'made her sad'.
Georgia Newman, 29, from Huddersfield, and her 29-year-old partner, Jordan Kilkenny - now both in jail - put the child into the cold bath at their home in Leeds on November 1, 2019, and left her there.
Newman - who was 34 weeks pregnant at the time - lied and told hospital staff the girl had 'slipped and banged her head in the bath and blamed it on the bubble bath and said she would not be buying that brand again', the court heard on Monday.
Prosecutor, Richard Woolfall, said the emergency services 'scooped her up' and took her to hospital due to her critical condition. He said: "A paramedic attended at 3.31pm and was directed into the living room where the five-year-old complainant was on the couch with