A single dad’s failure to properly care for his severely disabled daughter after her mother abandoned them could result in him jailed by a Queensland court.

September 26, 2019

A Sydney dad who failed to properly feed and care for his severely disabled daughter in the months before she died of pneumonia is expected to learn his fate.

Ronald Gary Smith, 42, hoped moving his family to Queensland’s warmth would improve four-year-old Jade’s health.

But days after arriving in Brisbane in mid-2014, her mother fled the family, leaving Smith – a former furniture removalist who didn’t attend high school – to care for their daughter alone.

It was the first in a series of events that ended when Jade died of acute aspiration pneumonia in June 2015, Brisbane District Court has heard.

A post-mortem examination found she was severely malnourished with deep bed sores and bone erosion, prosecutor Julie Aylward says.

“(Jade) was denied the necessities of life because she was not adequately fed and her painful injuries were not addressed,” she said, quoting a doctor’s report.

The court heard Jade suffered a number of serious conditions from birth, including brain abnormalities, and was unable to move or communicate.

She also needed to be tube-fed a specially prepared diet co-ordinated by health authorities, which Smith failed to access after the family moved, Ms Aylward said.

Instead, he fed her nutritionally incomplete toddler formula he brought from a chemist.

It was wilful neglect that made an already vulnerable child more susceptible to infection, Ms Aylward said.

“Her care was entrusted to her father and he should have been the most protective person in her life.”

Smith pleaded guilty to one count of child cruelty. He will be sentenced on Thursday.