Two Tongan women in California, have been jailed for neglecting their 73-year-old mother, who was found in a gangrenous state after passing away in 2013. The pair were sentenced on Friday, only two days before Mother’s day today. They were sentenced by the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.

The two women from San Mateo, sisters Moala Tatola (41) and Tafolosa Tatolamahe (48), were sentenced to 23-days in prison with 3 years’ probation for the elderly abuse of their 73-year-old mother Sela Tatola.

According to prosecutors, on March 9, 2013, Police were called to a house where they found Sela Tatola dead in a grotesque state of decay, with gangrene throughout her whole body and her lower body coloured black “…due to filth and necrotic tissue”. Sela Tatola was diabetic and had died of pneumonia, prosecutors said.

According to local reports, both sisters received an outpouring of support from their family and church, who attested to their remorse and commitment to their mother. The Sisters told prosecutors that their mother would not go to a doctor but conceded that they could have done better to take care of her.