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Episode 92: Shellay “Ebony” Ward (Part 2)

Last week, I told you the first part of the story of seven-year-old Shellay Ward, who was found dead in her family’s home in Hawks Nest, New South Wales, Australia on November 3, 2007, emaciated, lying on a bare mattress in a filthy room filled with human waste. Shellay, who was autistic and had never attended school, spent her final months imprisoned in her dark, filthy bedroom. She is largely known across Australia by her middle name, Ebony, the girl who suffered the country’s worst child neglect death.

In this episode, I will tell you the rest of Shellay’s story, including the arrest and trial of her parents and the results of multiple investigations into the catastrophic systemic failure of multiple government agencies responsible for protecting Australia’s most vulnerable children.

This is part two of the tragic story of Shellay “Ebony” Ward.

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Episode 91: Shellay “Ebony” Ward (Part 1)

On November 3, 2007, first responders to a home in Hawks Nest, New South Wales, Australia were shocked and horrified by what they found. On a mattress in a feces-covered bedroom with a boarded-over window lay the twisted, emaciated form of 7-year-old Shellay Ward, who had been deprived of food, water, sunlight, medical attention, and basic human decency for months, if not years. Shellay’s parents, Blakeley and Sharyn Ward, were charged with her murder.

This is the story of the catastrophic failure of multiple government agencies created to protect Australia’s most vulnerable children. It’s also the story of the long, torturous death of an autistic seven-year-old girl who spent her final months imprisoned in her dark, filthy bedroom and who is largely known across Australia as Ebony, the girl who suffered the country’s worst child neglect death.

This is part one of the tragic story of Shellay “Ebony” Ward.