A fundamentalist Christian couple who relied on prayer to cure their dying two-year-old son were put on probation for 10 years yesterday on condition they take their seven remaining children for medical check-ups.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible of the First Century Gospel Church in Philadelphia were convicted in December of involuntary manslaughter over the death from pneumonia of their son, Kent.

Prosecutors argued adults can choose to forgo medical care for themselves, but not their children. Defence lawyers said the couple did not know how sick Kent was before he died in 2009.