Mum fined $1000 for leaving kids in sun

[share a book]

A MOTHER who let her children get so sunburnt they had to be rushed to a hospital emergency ward was fined just $1000 yesterday.


The 24-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was facing a maximum fine of up to $44,000 but escaped with little more than a slap on the wrist because a court heard she could not be jailed and would never be able to pay a hefty fine.
In handing down the sentence in Gosford Local Court, magistrate Alan Railton said he was "frustrated" with the legislation, which also required him to take the unemployed woman's financial circumstances into account.
Police found the woman's five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter covered in 2cm blisters on their face, shoulders and back when they went to serve her partner with outstanding warrants on November 23 at a caravan park on the NSW Central Coast.
They rushed the children to hospital where they were given antibiotics and painkillers, while the boy was also placed in a burns suit.
The woman pleaded guilty to two counts of neglect but a statement tendered to court revealed she showed "no remorse" and at one point even tried blaming her daughter for not wanting to wear a hat, despite later admitting the toddler did not own one.
She told the court she had taken them to the beach on Sunday, November 21, "for a few hours".
Other caravan residents, however, told police the toddler spent the whole day playing outside in only a nappy.
She was also covered in infected mosquito bites and had a blister on her face that looked like a cigarette burn while the boy had several rotting teeth.
Police found a bong on the dining room table that she told them she only smoked in the toilet, located across from the children's bedroom where they shared a "filthy" bed.
The children, who were described by health workers as being in "immense pain", hungry and thirsty, remain in the care of DOCS.



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/mum-fined-1000-for-leaving-kids-in-sun/story-e6frfkvr-1225971178278#ixzz187UmwAXL

[Amara]

I just read this elsewhere. Truly disgusting.

[share a book]

Those poor little kids, I hope she is taught how to look after them properly before having them returned to her.

[CookiesRYum]

appalling :( poor kiddies

[One of THOSE mums!]

That is repulsive. Unfit to have children!

[higgleandgoot]

Oh my gosh. Heartbreaking!

[jade24]

:no:

I hope they are with a nice family, getting the love and care they deserve.

What a disgusting human being :(

[Ulysses]

makes me think people should have to have a license to have children - these people that have innocent little kids & neglect/abuse them like this. it's absolutely disgusting.

[Boobycino]

Omg !!! That's just horrorific!!!!!!!!!!

Poor little babies :(

[waterlily]

Omg the poor little things!! If my DD falls over and hurts herself it breaks my heart.

I'm repulsed!!

[flicker]

that really is so sad :gloomy:
those poor kids. why. why are some people given the gift of children when clearly they dont deserve them... and yet some people who would make amazing parents are cursed with infertility. :mad:

[share a book]

If the kids are in the care of child safety I don't see why they can't stick her in jail and make her do parenting courses and also make her learn about basic safety including sun safety, safety in the home, safety around water, cover all bases with her. She sounds not only neglectful but also clueless!

[the girls mum]

If the kids are in the care of child safety I don't see why they can't stick her in jail and make her do parenting courses and also make her learn about basic safety including sun safety, safety in the home, safety around water, cover all bases with her. She sounds not only neglectful but also clueless!

:iagree:A parenting course (or several) would do her (and the kids) much more then a fine she may not be able to pay???

As for the kids - those poor poor poor babies. It breaks my heart think of what they have been through. x

[share a book]

:iagree:A parenting course (or several) would do her (and the kids) much more then a fine she may not be able to pay???

As for the kids - those poor poor poor babies. It breaks my heart think of what they have been through. x

She was meant to get a fine of $44,000 that was reduced to $1,000 because she was unable to pay the higher fine.

[zombiekitty]

oh that's just terrible :(
I hope that mother receives help and that the children are safe.

[veve]

a finacial fine will do nothing .. it just means she will spend even LESS money on the children (highly doubt she will spend less on pot .. sigh ) ...

what she NEEEEDS is to legally be requested to sit through several courses - showing her the consequences of her actions (neglect) and how to parent properly .. :(

I feel for those kids - I really really hope that they find a family who will treat them with the respect and love they deserve - and that they aren't moved between families/ home repeatedly - I hope they aren't returned to her until she is ready to parent :(

I honestly worry about long term damage :( they say that it only takes one- two bad sunburns to ensure you have skin issues later in life :( those poor kids may suffer more later in life because of the mother's poor decision now :(

[3boysNAprincess]

That's terrible!

[share a book]

a finacial fine will do nothing .. it just means she will spend even LESS money on the children (highly doubt she will spend less on pot .. sigh ) ...

what she NEEEEDS is to legally be requested to sit through several courses - showing her the consequences of her actions (neglect) and how to parent properly .. :(

I feel for those kids - I really really hope that they find a family who will treat them with the respect and love they deserve - and that they aren't moved between families/ home repeatedly - I hope they aren't returned to her until she is ready to parent :(

I honestly worry about long term damage :( they say that it only takes one- two bad sunburns to ensure you have skin issues later in life :( those poor kids may suffer more later in life because of the mother's poor decision now :(

This is why I also think she needs to be sat down and educated on such things so she has a full understanding of just what she's done. Not only parenting courses, but learning about safety as well and really going into graphic detail about what it means for a person to have a sun burn, and also cover other types of safety so she knows not to make those mistakes either. It only takes one mistake for a child's life to end. She needs to learn what to do so that does not happen to her children.

[SassyMummy]

I'm sure very few of us will get to our children's 18th without them ever having been sunburnt... but this is just ridiculous!

There is a difference between a little sunburn, and huge blisters, not owning a hat for your toddler (wtf?!) and them being intense pain and hungry and thirsty. How revolting.

[ComeBackKid]

:no:

I hope they are with a nice family, getting the love and care they deserve.

What a disgusting human being :(


:iagree:

I hope they are being adequately cared for now and recover well.

Such a sad story - poor kids :(

[share a book]

I'm sure very few of us will get to our children's 18th without them ever having been sunburnt... but this is just ridiculous!

There is a difference between a little sunburn, and huge blisters, not owning a hat for your toddler (wtf?!) and them being intense pain and hungry and thirsty. How revolting.

You're right, chances are most kids will have a sunburn at some time. My little girl has gone a bit pink sometimes and I felt terrible about that! She has protective clothing, sunscreen, stays in the shade, does not go outside for long between 10am and 3pm (they have their first break at school from 9:30 to 10 but they have their second break from 1 to 1:30 and she sits in the eating area indoors for the first 15 minutes and plays outside for the second 15 minutes but when she's with me we don't go outside at that time) but somehow she's still managed to get that bit of pink about her a couple of times. Nothing like this, though, it must be really bad for the poor kid to have to wear a burns suit! That's like scalding hot water burn or burn from a fire, it takes extreme heat to cause that kind of damage! I worry that my child will end up with some kind of skin cancer from the couple of mild burns she's had, yet this mother shows no remorse for what she's done to her children!

[FiveInTheBed]

oh this makes me so sad.
poor little kiddies.

[3blondies]

:mad: Leave her out in the sun for a few hours. She will soon realise what she did was wrong. Its just not fair when there are so many loving couples going thropugh so much heat ache trying to conceive and then there are people like this who have no idea the blessing's they have been given. :no:

[*babygirl*]

Omg poor babies :( suburb hurts so so bad they must have been in agony! So not only did she neglect them in the sun she also neglected to treat them :( it makes me want to be sick!

[delirium]

I think we can all agree no one is a perfect parent but that is just neglect. Infected mozzie bites, cigarette burns and 2nd degree burns fall under neglect and physical abuse.

I hope the parents can get it together :(

[TNTbub]

I've seen worse. But she needs manditory parenting classes

[mummaof4]

im wondering why the others in the trailer park havent dobbed her in prior seeing as they said he'd been in a nappy outside constantly. and no doubt theyve seen the way they live.

why do people no longer care!?:confused::(

[iMischa]

gosford! im not surprised at all by this.

how friggen terrible!