Pokie-playing mother guilty of leaving baby in hot car

A young Napier mother whose 6-month-old son was found in her car screaming in heat of at least 25C while she played the pokies has been convicted of ill-treating the child.

Aroha-Noa Mardy Daneil Kea, 22, of Maraenui, was charged after she left her baby in her car with a friend on August 10 last year while she went into the TAB at Stortford Lodge in Hastings.

Her friend later left the baby alone in the vehicle and joined her in the TAB. About 1.47pm, a staff member heard the infant's distressed screaming and called police.

Footage from a CCTV camera showed the baby was left in the car for a total of 25 minutes in hot, sunny weather, with an outside temperature of about 25C. All windows in the car were wound up.

In the Hastings District Court on Wednesday, Kea's lawyer, Eric Forster, said his client conceded the baby was her responsibility, yet claimed she hadn't known her friend had entered the TAB, leaving the infant alone in the car.

Judge Tony Adeane sentenced her to 12 months' supervision.

"This all began with you not understanding your responsibility towards a little baby," the judge said.

Kea was also ordered to undergo counselling and education programmes. "Clearly the emphasis will be on parenting skills."

The charge of ill-treating a child carries a maximum penalty of five years' jail.

Problem Gambling Foundation chief executive Graeme Ramsey said he knew of similar cases "from one end of the country to the other. It's indicative of the neglect many children receive from problem gambling."

Not meeting expectations as caregivers, social isolation and a desire for time out were common reasons for women gambling on the pokies, he said. "For problem gamblers, being 'in the game' is a way of shutting out the world around them."

Hawkes Bay has one of the highest numbers of poker machines per head of population in the country. "A question has to be asked about why you have so many [pokies] down there. Each machine has an average loss of $40,000 per year - which is an awful amount of money flowing out of Hawkes Bay."

Stortford Lodge TAB manager Bruce Ferguson said he was shocked by the incident and had phoned police as soon as he knew of the distressed baby. He said he now made staff check the carpark regularly.

On February 12, Hastings woman Toni Whatarau, 46, who gambled away nearly $500,000 from her employer on poker machines, was sentenced to three years' jail.