A woman who allowed a nine-year-old child to have one of the worst cases of infestation of head lice ever seen by a GP was jailed for five months at Norwich Crown Court on Friday.
A woman who allowed a nine-year-old child to have one of the worst cases of infestation of head lice ever seen by a GP was jailed for five months at Norwich Crown Court on Friday.
Katrina Byer, 28, of Nelson Road Central, Yarmouth, admitted a charge of child neglect.
Jonathan Morgans, prosecuting, said that the child was found to have her head crawling with head lice and her hair was so dirty and matted that when it was washed by a social worker it was thought the child had used hair dye but it turned out to be dirt.
He said the girl had head lice crawling through her hair and across her forehead and a GP who saw the child described it as one of the worst cases he had seen.
Mr Morgans said that the problem of the head lice had been pointed out to Byer but she failed to use the head lice treatment prescribed.
Jailing her, Judge Peter Jacobs told her she just “did not care” about the welfare of the child.
Richard Potts, mitigating, said Byer had an unhappy past and was an inadequate person.
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