Blood Tribe parents who neglected daughter's health back in custody

A man and womanfrom southern Alberta's Blood Tribe who pleaded guilty to neglecting their daughter's health for so long that she nearly diedhave been taken back into custody.

The mother and father, who arenot being identified to protect the identity of their daughter, also had their sentencing delayed again after a hearing Monday in aLethbridge,Alta., courtroom.

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Their sentencing had already been delayed after a hearing last March in which the court decided to put the matter off for six months while the couple took part in counsellingsessions and healing ceremonies.

But the pair stopped attending those sessions in May, court heard on Monday.

A judge expressed frustration at the situation and ordered that both parents be returnedto custody pending their next court date onOct.23.

Case history

The couple has been in and out of court for the past several years after being charged in 2013 and pleading guilty in 2016 to failing to provide the necessaries of life to their daughter.

The girl was admitted to hospital at age 9 with severeabscesseson her face, anobstructed airway anda serious blood infection.

She was battling septic shock and was rushed to the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary with her jaw bone visible through the skin on both sides of her mouth.

She needed to be intubated for seven days in order to breathe properly and underwent weeks of treatment,including for pancreatitisthat developed as a result of the sepsis.

She has since recovered and has been placed in a kinship homebut is expected to require further surgeries and treatment as she gets older.

Although unusual in everyday language, the plural noun "necessaries" not"necessities" is theterm the legal system uses.

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