Toddler left in car at shopping centre

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/toddler-left-in-car-at-shopping-centre-3208985.html

Some interesting comments regarding this story though I don't know for how long the one from someone called Margaret will last!

Just looked up that article.

left in a locked car in a shopping centre carpark in south county Dublin on a warm day for at least an hour until a shopper called the police who initially gave the 2 year old girl to social services, but returned her to the mother as soon as the family were traced.

53 comments up when i looked just now. The one you refer to Jean, mentions the McCann case and the perception that social status influences decisions to prosecute or not. The article has no information about the mother/family so we don't know if they are professionals. A file is going to the authorities who will decide whether to prosecute.

I read an article today in one of the online newspapers that said a couple had left a baby asleep in their hotel room while they went out to celebrate hubby's birthday. They unplugged the phone so it wouldn't wake the baby. The hotel staff realised the phone was unplugged and went to investigate and then called the police when they found the baby alone. The couple were arrested and the baby, although unharmed, was taken into care. Most of the comments were McCann related and how one mother gets to be a millionaire ambassador while the other one is arrested.

I can't remember which paper I read it in now, but pretty much all the comments were relating this story to the McCanns.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2189369/Parents-left-toddler-Florida-casino-hotel-room-partied-dads-birthday.html
Toddler 'left on his own in casino hotel room while parents celebrated his father's birthday'
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
16 August 2012

The parents of a 20-month-old allegedly left the boy alone inside a casino hotel room while they partied for his father's birthday.
Natalie Fouche, 30, and Albert Thomas Owens, 36, are accused of leaving their child in a Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino hotel room in Hollywood, Florida so they could enjoy dinner and drinks.
Once the youngster was asleep on a bed, they unplugged the telephone in the room so he would not be disturbed and left, police said.

Fouche, a nursing student, and Owens, who is unemployed, returned to the room at 8.05 p.m. and told officials they had been in the casino for dinner and alcoholic drinks.
The told police they had left their son on his own for at least 45 minutes, Bitner said, and they were taken to Broward County jail.

Thank you PeterMac, that's definitely the story but I must have found it in a different paper because there were loads of comments about the McCanns, unless the DM have whooshed most of them

Interesting to compare the Irish case and the US case in the posts above.

Ireland
2 year old child left in locked car for at least an hour on hot day in carpark. Parents get child back once police locate family. File goes for review - chances of prosecution? Who knows?

US
Slightly younger child (a few months) left in locked hotel room for at least 45 minutes while parents dine in hotel (I think that was the case as opposed to their being at a restaurant outside the hotel). Child not returned to parents. Both face trial and depending on this, may not get the child back. Interesting that mother is a nursing student (age 30) - the caring profession!

Child neglect is child neglect no matter which country you neglect the child in; but it seems that the penalties faced by parents who are caught can vary hugely. You might even be rewarded and made Ambassador of a well known charity - I'm joking of course!

@pauline wrote:Interesting to compare the Irish case and the US case in the posts above.

Ireland
2 year old child left in locked car for at least an hour on hot day in carpark. Parents get child back once police locate family. File goes for review - chances of prosecution? Who knows?

US
Slightly younger child (a few months) left in locked hotel room for at least 45 minutes while parents dine in hotel (I think that was the case as opposed to their being at a restaurant outside the hotel). Child not returned to parents. Both face trial and depending on this, may not get the child back. Interesting that mother is a nursing student (age 30) - the caring profession!

Child neglect is child neglect no matter which country you neglect the child in; but it seems that the penalties faced by parents who are caught can vary hugely. You might even be rewarded and made Ambassador of a well known charity - I'm joking of course!

If only you were!