<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find distressing.</span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>An Adelaide court has heard harrowing new details in what's now emerged as one of the worst child neglect cases in South Australian history.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The court heard today that meth-addicted Northern Suburbs mother Crystal Hanley, 49, took drugs and laughed off the deteriorating condition of her six-year-old daughter, Charlie Nowland, until she took her final breath in her filthy home.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Charlie died from severe malnutrition in 2022. When she arrived at hospital, the court was told, she was in a "physically deplorable state", weighing just 18 kilograms, wearing a nappy, and infested with lice.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/interest-rates-reserve-bank-of-australia-november-decision/d70c56a3-161f-43ef-9e66-9286cdd459be"><strong><span>'Anything's possible': RBA delivers pre-Christmas message no one wants</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sergeant Haydn Evans, who attended the scene, described the lasting impact of the case. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I can still smell the house," he said. </span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/crystal-hanley-charlie-nowland-child-abuse-victim-impact-statements/06fa46f7-0ed2-43c5-a819-28d8cddd00e8" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"What happened to Charlie is an atrocity."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Angela Dente quit her career as a nurse after trying to save Charlie's life. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"My colleagues and I attempted washing her as the last thing we could do for her," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was in vain… (she had) baked on dirt on her hands and feet you couldn't even scratch… off."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/skincare-products-pulled-from-shelves-over-banned-ingredient/09a8de53-14bc-4425-aefb-54ac1c8c0e92"><strong><span>Aussie skincare products pulled from shelves over banned ingredient</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hanley sobbed as Charlie's siblings delivered victim impact statements, with one saying, "I had to be a parent to Charlie because you weren't", while the other said "all you cared about was drugs when you should have cared about us."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Neighbours had observed Charlie's deteriorating health, noting that her legs became so swollen she was unable to walk. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>However, Hanley joked about her daughter's condition, saying, "she's got cankles, she's a dickhead and she won't walk".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Hanley wrote a letter to her children, apologising for failing them all as a mother, saying she wishes she could turn back time and will have to live with Charlie's death for the rest of her life.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prosecutors say Hanley knew about her daughter's condition and did nothing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She remains in custody, awaiting sentencing for the neglect that led to Charlie's death after </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/woman-pleads-guilty-child-neglect-death-case/8df6d159-7949-46c4-96bd-f89845430fa8"><span>pleading guilty in May</span></a><span>.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>This article was produced with the assistance of</span></em><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/technology/9express/16480c33-636a-461f-9c4f-d0e2522c722a"><em><span>9ExPress</span></em></a><em><span>.</span></em></div></div>