An Australian mother and her former partner are accused of murdering her 12-year-old disabled daughter who was found unresponsive and “extremely emaciated” inside their home in 2022, authorities say.
Carrissa Kaye Scholten, 36, and Aaron Paul Richardson, 38, were each charged last year with one count of murder in connection to the death of her daughter, Tiffani Scholten, at their home in Coomera, Queensland, in 2022, authorities said, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports.
Authorities allege that the care Scholten, a mother of four, and Richardson gave Tiffani, who died of malnutrition, was “insufficient and directly related to her death,”
news.com.au reports.
During a bail hearing in Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday, Aug. 25, prosecutors told the court that Scholten did not send Tiffani to school for an entire term in 2022,
news.com.au reports.
The court heard that Tiffani spent three hours a day inside a crib in a cupboard in one of the rooms of the home, ABC reports. Tiffani, her lawyer said, “was more comfortable without too much external light.”
While the prosecution's case is "strong in many respects," her attorney said it was "not necessarily a strong case for murder," ABC reports.
"There seems to be several witnesses saying up to the date of death, the mother was trying to feed the child," he said.
Tiffani suffered from
Rett syndrome, a rare genetic neurological and degenerative disorder that affects the way the brain develops, according to the
Mayo Clinic,
While the symptoms can vary, it often causes a progressive loss of motor skills and language, as well as seizures.
The disorder made eating difficult for Tiffani, who had been fed through a stomach tube when she was younger, according to
MSN.
Scholten told police that Tiffani went "through stages" where she would not eat or would vomit, then go back to eating regularly, per ABC.
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