Today in History - September 4: Adoptive parents convinced court 10-year-old was actually an adult
A ten-year-old girl was effectively abandoned in 2012 after her adoptive parents convinced a court she was actually born on September 4, 1989.
Natalia Vadymivna Gava was born in Ukraine and given up for adoption by her single mother.
She was then adopted by US couple Kristine and Michael Barnett in 2010.
But the Barnetts soon began to suspect their adopted daughter was not actually a little girl but an adult with dwarfism.
They petitioned a court to change Natalia's birth year from 2003 to 1989.
She was then given an apartment, a disability pension and left to fend for herself as a ten-year-old.
Natalia was then taken in by another couple.
When law enforcement concluded Natalia was genuinely a child, the Barnetts were arrested and charged with neglect.
But the pair were acquitted with the prosecutor citing "insufficient evidence".
Natalia, now an adult, believes the Barnetts were convinced they were being duped by a movie called Orphan.
The horror movie tells the story of a family who adopts a little girl who later turns out to be a sadistic adult with dwarfism.
Zookeeper and TV presenter Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray on September 4, 2006.
Irwin was swimming with the stingrays on the Great Barrier Reef when he was struck in the heart with a barb.
The moment he was struck and his subsequent death was filmed by documentary-makers, but the footage was destroyed.
Irwin was only the second person in Australia to be killed by a stingray.
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