GLOUCESTER COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) - The mother and father who starved their six-year-old daughter and kept her locked in a cage were sentenced to 30 years in prison. Brian and Shannon Gore faced life sentences on the abuse and neglect and malicious wounding charges.
The Gloucester County judge presiding over this case said he considered factors such as the care the parents provided their daughter prior to the abuse and their lack of previous criminal histories when he determined their sentences.
[Click here to read CBS 6's coverage on this case]
The judge also said this case was the worst case of child abuse he had seen during his 15 years on the bench. He likened the child's emaciated body to that of a Nazi concentration camp prisoner.
Shannon Gore offered no real explanation for the abuse, only to say she "lost the ability to see things clearly" after the death of another child. She said she missed her children and apologized to her daughter (who is about to turn nine years old).
Brian Gore apologized to the community and said he never should have let the abuse happen.
The abuse was discovered in 2011. The Gore's two children are now living with another family.
When investigators discovered the child two years ago, she was found with bald spots and indentations in her buttocks from where her heels dug in due to the position she remained in around the clock. The Gores said they fed the child sippy cups of milk and pop tarts daily, but police said the child was emaciated and resorted to eating her own flaking skin and mucus.
