A vegan woman in Florida has been sentenced to life in prison after the malnutrition death of her young son.
Sheila O’Leary, 38, was convicted of six charges last June: first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter, child abuse and two counts of child neglect.
Authorities have said that O’Leary was responsible for the death of her son, Ezra.
A strict vegan, O’Leary and her husband, Ryan, fed Ezra only raw fruits and vegetables, as well as breast milk.
Ezra was 18 months old when he died in September 2019. He only weighed 17 pounds, the size of a 7-month-old baby.
“When paramedics answered Sheila O’Leary’s 911 call on Sept. 27, 2019, they said that they found Ezra not breathing and his two siblings, ages 3 and 5, showing the effects of “extreme malnourishment,” said Cape Coral police.
The O’Learys told officers their diet was comprised of only raw fruits and vegetables. The medical medical examiner ruled the boy’s cause of death to be complications of malnutrition, including dehydration, affecting the liver and swelling of the child’s hands, feet and lower legs.
However, attorney’s representing the O’Learys maintained that they were caring parents who didn’t mean to kill their son.
“The child’s death, while tragic, was neither purposeful nor neglectful, but accidental, and is listed on the death certificate as such,” attorney John Musca, who represented Sheila O’Leary, said in a statement.
Sheila O’Leary, learned her fate Monday, after her sentencing hearing was delayed four times following her conviction in late June.
The Cape Coral woman also was handed two 30-year sentences for aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child, and an additional five-year term for child abuse and child neglect, to be served concurrently.
Judge Bruce Kyle ordered O’Leary, who was standing silently in a red prison jumpsuit, to have no contact with her surviving children.
O’Leary’s defense attorney said after the hearing that he intends to appeal the sentence.
Her husband, Ryan O’Leary, 33, remains in jail while awaiting trial on the same charges.
In early August, additional counts of sexual assault on a victim younger than 12, and lewd and lascivious behavior on a victim younger than 12 were filed against the dad.
“This child did not eat. He was starved to death over 18 months,” Francine Donnorummo, the special victims unit chief at the Lee County State Attorney’s Office, said during Sheila O’Leary’s trial.
O’Leary and her husband had two other children, ages 3 and 5, who also were malnourished, investigators said. A fourth child, aged 11, had been returned to her biological father during an earlier malnutrition case in Virginia, court records show.
That is so sick!
Some people take those vegan diets to an extreme!
I never thought I would read about parents
subjecting their little children to the diet.
It definitely isn’t a diet for little children who
need proper nourishment of calcium, iron and other
essential vitamins for growth. The parents
look healthy. They ate properly during their
childhoods I am sure!
Vegans are all fucked up, and usually their liberals.