A young mother has admitted to locking her two-month-old daughter in a car for nearly an hour while enjoying an aromatherapy massage.
The 26-year-old Gold Coast mother confessed to leaving her infant in the car with the windows up when she appeared at the Southport Courthouse on Monday.
The new mother, who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, drove to the French Beauty Academy in Robina, Queensland’s Gold Coast, shortly after midday on August 8 this year.
The 26-year-old Gold Coast mother (pictured with her daughter) confessed to leaving her infant in the car with the windows up when she appeared at the Southport Courthouse on Monday
The baby was only discovered when passers-by heard her crying in a ‘distressed state’ and phoned emergency services.
Police, ambulance and fire services all arrived at the Robina carpark, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported.
Police tried to reach the mother by calling her mobile phone, but when they saw it flashing inside the vehicle, they were forced to cut the child out.
Fire workers needed to cut the roof of the car open in order to safely rescue the child before taking her to hospital to be assessed.
She was locked in the car for nearly an hour before she was freed.
Half an hour after the baby was cut out of the car, the 26-year-old mother returned from her massage.
Police tried to reach the mother (pictured with her child) by calling her mobile phone, but when they saw it flashing inside the vehicle, they were forced to cut the child out
Half an hour after the baby was cut out of the car, the 26-year-old mother, who cannot be named to protect her daughter’s identity, returned from her massage (woman pictured outside court on Monday)
Police prosecutors told the court on Monday, the mother showed a ‘complete lack of knowledge of the danger of leaving the child in the car’.
The woman’s defence lawyer Callan Brown told the court his client suffered from postnatal depression at the time which caused her ‘lapse of judgement’.
The defence failed to convince magistrate Kay Philipson.
The woman’s defence lawyer Callan Brown told the court his client suffered from postnatal depression at the time which caused her ‘lapse of judgement’ (mother pictured outside court)
Magistrate Philipson did not accept the woman suffered from a medical condition because there was no evidence to support it.
She said the mother’s actions ‘could have resulted in very serious consequences’.
Magistrate Philipson sentenced the woman to nine months’ probation.
She was also ordered to undertake parenting courses during probation.
No conviction was recorded.
The new mother, who cannot be named to protect the child’s identity, drove to the French Beauty Academy (pictured) in Robina, Queensland’s Gold Coast, shortly after midday on August 8 this year