The woman could be heard telling the nine-year-old that her sister was “coming down the other side now” before laughing.
The woman eventually called triple-zero and told operators she didn’t know what was wrong with the girl but that she thought she may have drank some vodka.
Later at hospital the woman told treating medical staff that the girl may have consumed cleaning products.
Blood tests showed she had methamphetamine in her system.
She was transferred to Perth Children’s Hospital where she was monitored and sedated before being discharged three days later into the care of her father.
The woman was arrested and later pleaded guilty to reckless conduct involving a child in her care.
At the time, the woman had a 50/50 co-parenting arrangement with her ex-husband and was taking and selling drugs from her Byford home, the court was told.
On Thursday, however, the court heard the woman had “turned her life around” and that the incident had frightened her into changing.
“She does realise it is one thing to be reckless with your own life and quite another to be reckless with the life of another,” her lawyer said.
State prosecutor David Davidson said that young children being exposed to meth can be “fatal”.
Loading
“As a mother she could have called triple-zero immediately,” he said.
“Not ‘it could have been vodka’, ‘it could have been cleaning products’. It should have been, ‘my child has consumed methamphetamine what can I do?’”
The court heard the woman had the full support of her ex-husband in her rehabilitation and although both of her children were initially removed from her care, they were now back with her.
The court imposed a 15-month supervision sentence on the woman which involved mandatory reporting and drugs testing and was given a requirement to complete some parenting and addiction programs.
Read the full article here
