Sheila O'Leary: Vegan mom gets life in prison for starving 18-month-old to death with raw fruit diet
LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA: Sheila O'Leary, a 39-year-old woman from Florida, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday, August 29, 2022, after she was found guilty of killing her son, Ezra. The 18-month-old died of severe malnutrition in September 2019. O'Leary, a vegan, was convicted on six charges - first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter, child abuse, and two counts of child neglect.
Her husband Ryan O'Leary is also in jail and will go on trial later this year for his involvement in the death of their youngest. It had been reported that the deceased toddler weighed only 17 pounds at the time of his death. According to court records, the father-of-three is also facing charges of sexual assault against a child under the age of 12.
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According to the Daily Mail, the mother who starved her son wore a blank, emotionless face as her sentence was read out. Further, she told the judge that she did not wish to make any statement. Notably, her sentencing in Lee County had been previously postponed four times.
Earlier, it had been found that the couple followed a strict vegan lifestyle and enforced the same dietary restrictions on their children. Their family ate only raw fruits and vegetables, while Ezra was also given breast milk. According to police records, at the time of his death, the toddler reportedly weighed only 17 pounds and was the size of a seven-month-old baby. In fact, doctors said that the child had been starved for a week before he eventually died.
Sheila and Ryan have two other children who are also severely malnourished. The children, aged 3 and 5, had endured "extreme neglect", said Amira Fox, the state attorney. They were primarily fed mangoes, bananas, avocados, and rambutans. As a consequence, their skin had turned yellow and they developed poor dental hygiene.
Sheila had one other child, a daughter aged 11, who was returned to her biological father in Virginia. Upon receiving a proper diet there, her health was soon considerably better than her half-siblings.
Back in 2019, just prior to the youngest son's untimely death, his parents had noticed that he was struggling to breathe. They, however, decided to go to sleep instead of doing anything to save the child's life. Later, when they realized that Ezra had stopped breathing, they called 911. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, they found that the toddler had already died. They also examined the other children and found them to be similarly neglected.
The couple was charged in December of the same year. No photographs of the deceased at the time of his death were released.
The prosecutors at the trial painted the picture of a scrawny, deprived child, blaming the parents for the extreme neglect. Sara Miller, the Assistant State Attorney, said, "[Sheila] chose to disregard his cries. She didn't need a scale to see his bones. She didn't need a scale to hear his cry."