Two women who abused two young girls in a northeast Edmonton townhouse have been sentenced to eight years in prison.

The women, who pleaded guilty to locking the girls in a basement without food, water or a bathroom, learned their sentence on Thursday via video conference.

According to the agreed statement of facts presented during the trial, the women used a dresser to block the entrance to the basement so that the girls couldn’t come up to get food.

When the girls were admitted to hospital, one was suffering from injuries so serious; she required plastic surgery on her hip and buttocks to remove the dead tissue. The other girl had broken teeth and marks on her back, legs and torso that were described as belt marks.

The women cannot be identified because of a publication ban, but one is the mother of the two girls, who were six and three at the time of the abuse. The other was her friend, and the tenant of the home where both women and the children were living.

“We made what we thought was a fair submission with respect to an appropriate sentence and the court gave us, the 8 years that we were seeking in our submissions,” said Crown Prosecutor Jayme Williams.

The lawyer for the second woman is disappointed by the decision.

“In my request for the sentence I asked for was to really focus on rehabilitation, which in my opinion is always better effected in the community with supports around you rather than in the prison system,” said Danielle Boisvert.

The lawyers for both women were asking for a sentence in the four to five year range, followed by a period of probation.

“Certainly my feeling is that it didn’t reflect her background and the culpability and the motivation or the reasons behind these criminal offences,” said Boisvert.

With time served, the mother of the girls will spend four more years behind bars, and her co-accused will serve about another three and a half years.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson and David Ewasuk.