It is appalling that five year old Nadia Kalinowska was savagely attacked over a prolonged period and ultimately murdered in the one place where she should have safe and secure - her own Co Antrim home.
The perpetrators, her stepfather, Abdul Wahab (35), and her mother, Aleksandra Wahab (29), were given lengthy jail sentences at Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday but serious questions remain unanswered.
Nadia was a beautiful child and the photographs of her in the arms of her parents, and particularly the haunting video of her dancing in a party dress, could have been taken from any family album.
Tragically, a much darker graphic also emerged taken from police scans which comprehensively demonstrated the brutal wounds inflicted on her head, body and legs over many months before her death.
It was established, as the court was told, that Nadia was repeatedly tortured - and no other term is appropriate - in her home at Fernagh Drive in Newtownabbey before she was eventually found dead on December 15, 2019.
As well as suffering a skull fracture and lacerated liver which ultimately proved fatal, Nadia had sustained fractures and re-fractures to her ribs, a fractured collarbone, a fractured pelvis and an injury to her bowel.
The innocent and vulnerable child had a range of other injuries, as well as having a dreadful dental condition, and it will be widely noted that a health visitor had requested treatment to her black, decaying and rotten teeth in June, 2018, but the referral ended ten months later when she failed to attend appointments.
This was one of a number of unmistakable warning signs but sadly Nadia was left alone in the unrestricted care of those who ultimately ended her young life.
Abdul Wahab, after being convicted of murder, was given a mandatory life term and told he must serve a minimum of 22 years before he could be considered for release, but many will wonder this represents a sufficient penalty in the circumstances.
There will also be a firm spotlight on the role of Aleksandra Wahab, who pleaded guilty to allowing the death of her child, and was sentenced to 11 years, half to be served prison and half on licence
As the judge said she must have been aware of the "violent beatings" her husband was inflicting on her daughter there will be a strong sense that Aleksandra Wahab should also be facing a life sentence after a case which has horrified and angered the entire community.
