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Parents leave two-year-old in car while playing bingo

Thursday, 08 May 2008 10:00

Parents leave two-year-old in car while playing bingo

A JUDGE in Palma has sentenced the parents of a two-year-old girl to one year each in prison for leaving the child in their car for a number of hours at night, while they played bingo in a local club.
The couple had been found guilty of the charge of temporary abandonment of a minor.
The incident took place in November 2006, when the child was still under two years old. Her parents went into the Bingo Rosales club, in Calle Manacor and left her in the car.
National Police received a call saying a small child had been alone in a car for several hours. When they found her, in the early hours of the morning, the doors were locked and the windows closed and the child was alone in the back seat. Police said she was awake and looking out of the window, apparently quite calm.
During the 20 minutes that the police spent inquiring into the ownership of the vehicle, no-one came to attend to her.
Witnesses in the bingo hall were able to confirm that the couple had been playing bingo for three hours.
The defence entered a ‘not guilty’ plea on behalf of the couple and have said they intend to appeal against the sentence.
The parents deny having left their daughter alone for hours although they admitted it had been several minutes and claimed they had taken turns staying with her in the car.
They claim that, on the day, they had come to Palma from Santanyi to do some shopping and, according to the mother, her husband entered the club at 6pm, whereas she didn’t go in until 8pm.
She claimed to have gone to a supermarket and taken the child to a park late at night, contradicting her husband’s story that it was he who took the girl to the park.

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