A
Lower Hutt couple has been sentenced for neglecting their four children
who were found in a house with no food or proper bedding, surrounded by
alcohol and needing medical treatment.
The father, 25, was sentenced to six months
community detention, 18 months intensive supervision and 80 hours
community work. The mother, 22, was sentenced to 18 months intensive
supervision and 160 hours community work.
The pair, granted permanent name suppression, was sentenced at the Wellington District Court before Judge Susan Thomas.
Judge Thomas said police were called to the house
about 8pm on January 4 after neighbours saw children running onto the
road unsupervised. The children were taken into Child, Youth and Family
care.
At the house were the parents of the four children,
then aged between seven months and four years, as well as members of
their extended family, all of whom were drunk. The four children, as
well as others, were also at the house.
Police found there was no bedding inside, except for
a mattress on the living room floor. There was no furniture and no
food, baby formula or baby food in the kitchen. However, there were drug
utensils and a "great deal of alcohol", Judge Thomas said.
When police arrived at the house, the father was
trying to leave to buy more alcohol. On the same night, the mother, who
is the sixth of 18 children, was found to be driving with more than
twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system.
Judge Thomas said there was evidence however, that
the couple were in the process of moving into the house and bedding had
been ordered. But when police returned to the house on January 10,
little had changed.
A paediatrician who
examined the children said they had lice, infected skin sores and poor
hygiene "consistent with physical neglect". One of the children's
t-shirts was covered in blood from their skin condition.
"The
aggravating factor in this is the breach of trust," Judge Thomas said.
"They're totally dependent on you for care, treatment of medical needs
and adequate nourishment and you significantly failed them in those
areas."
"There may have been some ointment [for the children's skin], but they couldn't have applied it themselves."
The
father's lawyer Louise Brown said her client should not be seen as the
lead offender because he had not seen the children for about a month.
However
Judge Thomas refuted this, saying he was still a parent who has
responsibilities. She said she saw no difference between the culpability
of the mother and father.
Ms Brown said the
father had not had positive role models growing up, and although he had
ideals of what parenting should be, he did not know how to achieve them.
She
advocated for a community detention sentence because home detention
would not allow her client to attend the numerous parenting and
budgeting courses under the supervision order.
The
mother's lawyer Kerry O'Brien said his client's 12 days in custody
following the initial arrest should be taken into account. She had been
assessed as having a low risk of reoffending.
The couple admitted four charges each of neglect, one for each child, at a previous court appearance in May.
3 News
No comments:
Post a Comment