Daughter let mother starve to death
A daughter who let her mother starve to death in her own waste as been jailed for 13 years and three months.
Cindy Taylor appeared for sentencing at the High Court at Auckland on Monday after being found guilty at an August trial of manslaughter.
In January 2015 the body of Ena Lai Dung, 76, was found in the Manurewa home she shared with her daughter and their flatmates, Brian and Luana Taylor.
Dung was found in a skeletal state, covered in her own waste and with flies and maggots on her body.
An autopsy revealed she was malnourished, dehydrated and had 15 broken ribs and sternum which were untreated and had begun to heal themselves.
Flatmates, married couple Brian and Luana Taylor, were also found guilty of failing to protect a vulnerable adult and on Monday were sentenced to six years, and six years and three months jail respectively.
Cindy Taylor was also found guilty and sentenced on two charges of dishonestly using a document, after she made withdrawals from her mother and late uncle’s bank cards, totalling $37,000.
Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker said the offence of failing to protect a vulnerable adult was new and lawyers had struggled to find New Zealand cases with similar facts.
In a victim impact statement read to the court Dung’s sister said she had only found out about her death through the reporting of the trio’s trial. She had been estranged from her sister for some years but said Dung didn’t deserve to die how she had.
‘‘I cry whenever I think about her suffering, and the pain of her broken ribs. I have nightmares of her hurting and starving to death,’’ she said.
Justice Wylie said Cindy Taylor had ‘‘failed to meet even the most basic expectations (Dung) was entitled to’’ and that her actions were ‘‘cruel and callous in the extreme’’.
For the charge of manslaughter Justice Wylie jailed her for 12 years.
For the two charges of using a document she received an additional sentence of 15 months jail.
Brian Taylor was jailed for six years.
Luana Taylor was jailed for six years and three months.