A man who left his three-year-old son alone in a car and another toddler unsupervised at home while he went to the pub on a blistering hot day has been fined in a Sydney court.
Police had to forcefully open the car, which was parked on the Hume Highway at Yagoona, to rescue the boy on September 23.
The 41-year-old man was fined $1,300 at the Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to neglecting a child in his care, leaving a child in a vehicle causing emotional distress and resisting arrest.
A father, 41, who left his three-year-old son alone in a car and another toddler unsupervised at home while he went to the pub on a hot day has been fined $1,300 in a Sydney court
Police had to forcefully open the car, which was parked on the Hume Highway at Yagoona, to rescue the boy on September 23 (pictured on the ground is the boy’s father, who was allegedly punched by another pub patron)
Temperatures in the area climbed to above 35C on the day and the boy had a temperature of 40C when officers smashed in the car’s window to rescue him (pictured)
The man told the court he was ‘terribly sorry’ for his actions and that he is undergoing counseling to deal with alcohol dependency, according to 9News.
‘Don’t ever, ever think that you’re going to be two seconds and you can put them in the car because you can be held up and it’s just not the right thing,’ he said.
Magistrate Elaine Truscott said she didn’t impose a larger fine because the man is his family’s breadwinner and his wife and two sons would be penalised as a result.
Barber Issa Khadem heard the distressed child in the Holden Astra hatchback shortly after 3.30pm and called the police.
Temperatures in the area climbed to above 35C on the day and the boy had a temperature of 40C when officers smashed in the car’s window to rescue him, according to 9News.
Barber Issa Khadem heard the distressed child in the Holden Astra hatchback shortly after 3.30pm and called the police
The toddler was treated for dehydration.
‘He was crying, he had wet himself in the car, poor thing,’ Mr Khadem said.
‘This is what happens in Yagoona when a bloke goes to the pub and leaves his kid in the car.’
Nine News showed footage of the father knocked out on the pavement of the pub, after another patron had allegedly punched him.
Police learned the father was supposed to have been caring for another son, aged two, when the boy’s mother arrived on the scene.
The younger son was found by police inside a nearby home, Nine News said.
The 41-year-old pleading guilty to neglecting a child in his care, leaving a child in a vehicle causing emotional distress and resisting arrest at Bankstown Local Court on Wednesday (pictured is the Hume Hotel)