A ballet instructor who raised the alarm about a severely malnourished teenager has told a Perth court the girl was "fading away in front of my very eyes" but her parents repeatedly dismissed her concerns.
The girl's parents, who are from Perth's wealthy western suburbs, are on trial in the Perth District Court accused of starving their daughter, who weighed just 27 kilograms when she was eventually admitted to hospital, aged 17.
The ABC is not naming the parents or the girl's teachers in order to protect her identity.
The dance instructor told the court she had tried to encourage the parents to take their daughter to see a dietician in 2019 because of her gaunt appearance and lack of strength, including her "sinewy arms".
"She was fading away in front of my very eyes," she told the court.
"I had a radar up about that child right from the start."
The instructor said she had tried to cut the girl's dancing hours from eight to four out of concern for her health, but was "irate" to discover the teenager had also been enrolled in another dancing school in 2020, fearing she would still be dancing eight hours a week.
A dance instructor from that school also gave evidence on Wednesday, telling the court she had "massive concerns" about the girl's wellbeing.
The student was "basically skin and bone" and it was "horrendous to see her like that", the teacher said.
She was shorter and narrower than other dancers her age, "particularly in her shoulders and her hips", and lacked muscle tone.
The girl's dance teacher raised the alarm about her development and diet. (Supplied: District Court)
She said the girl presented as "underweight" and appeared to be losing weight as the year progressed.
"I felt that she was getting smaller," she said.
But like her earlier ballet teacher, the new instructor was rebuffed by the girl's parents when she tried to outline her concerns, despite a heated discussion with her father in which she told him his daughter was "just bone".
The girl's parents are on trial in Perth accused of starving her. (Supplied: District Court)
The teacher said she had also called the Department of Child Protection multiple times in 2020 to share her concerns.
The girl's mother, who claimed her daughter was 14 at the time when she was really 16, said her daughter had always been small, was a premature baby, and "we don't want to bloat her", the teacher told the court.
Further efforts to raise issues with the mother, particularly related to a possible lack of protein in the child's diet, were also rebuffed.
The trial, before Judge Linda Black, is continuing.
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