Aspies For Freedom

Revealed: Girl police say starved to death

IT is the question this little girl's parents can't - and authorities refuse - to answer: how could she have starved to death in her bed?

Little Shellay Ward, 7, was found dead by her mother in her family's Hawks Nest home on Saturday morning. Her malnourished body weighed just 9kg.

The Department of Community Services confirmed they had been in contact with the family over the past few years, yet Shellay appeared to have gone unnoticed.

Father Blakeley Ward told The Daily Telegraph he had no idea what caused the death of his little girl, who suffered from autism and developmental disorders.

He said police had told him they believed his daughter died from starvation and dehydration, a claim he said was impossible.

"Starvation, we didn't starve her. She was born small, she was a tiny kid," Mr Ward said.

When police were called to the house after Shellay was found dead, Mr Ward said they told him she weighed just 9kg and had no fluids left in her body.

"I don't know how this can be, she'd eat like anything," he said.

Mr Ward begged for police to investigate what killed his youngest child, saying he and his wife Sharon were loving parents who lived for their three children.

Their two older daughters, a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old, were removed by DOCS on Saturday afternoon.

"I love my kids so much, all three of them, and now one of them is gone. Help me someone, help me find out what happened to my little girl," Mr Ward said.

Mr Ward said his wife tucked Shellay into bed on Friday night and "everything seemed normal".

He said she had eaten dinner and played in the house before going to bed. "I got up on Saturday morning and I said to the kids, 'Where's mummy?'," Mr Ward said.

"They said she was in with Shellay, which was normal. Sharon did everything for her - Sharon got her to walk, Sharon fed her," he said.

Later in the morning when Mr Ward went to see why his wife was still in the bedroom, he discovered the tragedy.

"Sharon was in the bathroom, leaning over crying. I said, 'What's wrong?' I said, 'Tell me, where's Shellay?' " he said.

Mr Ward said his wife told him the little girl was dead in her bed.

His only explanation for her death was that she was out of sorts since the family moved to their new house.

The family moved to the area from Sydney in August this year. Mr Ward said he wanted to get his children away from "drunks and druggies" and give them a better quality of life.

"She seemed depressed, she didn't smile anymore," Mr Ward said.

The family had previously lived in Housing Department accommodation but are now living in a private rental home.

"Look at this place - new furniture, new toys, pool table, new beds - it was all for the kids. How could anyone say we are bad parents?" he said.

Mr Ward told The Daily Telegraph the Department of Community Services had been in regular contact with his family.

Community Services Minister Kevin Green confirmed the Ward family was known to DOCS, but he couldn't answer why the little girl had been left in her parents' care.

Mr Ward said DOCS had visited the family's former home in Sydney around July this year and allegedly reported neglect, yet the children weren't removed.

The Education Department had also been in close contact with the family in recent years, after the couple decided to take their children out of school because of bullying and applied to home school them.

Revealed: Shellay's prison
THIS is the bedroom where Shellay Ward spent most of her life locked in solitary confinement, while authorities allegedly ignored neighbours' calls for help.

The little girl - whose tragic death has shocked the state - barely saw sunlight or played in the backyard, former neighbours claimed yesterday.

Yesterday they revealed they only saw Shellay outside the house once in five years.

The seven-year-old, who allegedly starved to death on Saturday weighing just 9kg, spent the majority of her day locked in the ramshackle bedroom of her parents' Housing Commission home in Matraville, surrounded by rubbish and her own faeces.

The family left the squalid surrounds for a new beginning in Hawks Nest on the North Coast this August but former neighbours yesterday spoke of their desperation in seeking help for the little girl.

Robert and Janice Reid lived next door to the Wards in Beauchamp Rd, Matraville, and yesterday recalled hardly ever seeing Shellay or her sisters.

"I saw her outside the house once in five years,'' Mrs Reid said.

Mr Reid said he is haunted by visions of Shellay standing near the window calling out for her parents, Blakeley and Sharon, who have denied any involvement in their daughter's death.

"I would often see her in her bedroom, naked, and hanging in the window frame, calling out, `Mummy' or `Daddy','' Mr Reid said.

Over the five years, Mr and Mrs Reid said they became increasingly concerned for the little girl's welfare and for that of her two older sisters.

Mrs Reid said concerned neighbours reported the fact that Shellay did not attend school to authorities but no action was ever taken.

"I know calls were made, but whether it went any further and got treated seriously, I don't know,'' she said.

The education department yesterday confirmed that Shellay, who suffered autism, had never attended school and said "options for her education'' were put to her parents.

However, it wasn't until the Wards suddenly packed up and moved to Hawks Nest that the real conditions in which they had lived were revealed.

"The condition of that house was appalling. There was solid faeces in Shellay's bedroom and it stank of urine,'' Mrs Reid said.

"It took two truckloads to shovel out the rubbish and filth inside the place - you have never seen anything like it.

"They cleaned a lot of it out by the time I got in there ... but some of the rubbish was up to your knees in the rooms,'' she recalled.

A foster carer yesterday claimed that Shellay had broken her bedroom window and that it had been repaired and then boarded up.

She also claimed the education department had been repeatedly notified about Shellay's non-attendance at school.

A man who runs a grocery business in Hawks Nest said Mrs Ward would fill a trolley with food items, only to be sent back by her husband to empty it.

Mr and Mrs Ward fled their Hawks Nest home early yesterday morning and headed to Sydney.

A spokeswoman from the State Crime Command said the investigation into Shellay's death was continuing.

It is believed only Mr Ward has been interviewed by police.

His wife, Shellay's main carer, has yet to be questioned by police in relation to her daughter's death.

Community Services Minister Kevin Greene, who has come under increased attack over his department's handling of the matter, again refused to comment on the case yesterday.