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SUNSHINE COAST - A teenage mother on Queensland's Sunshine Coast escaped a criminal conviction after she and her partner gave their 22-month-old daughter alcohol at a party.
The toddler, who had been misbehaving, had refused to settle down, so they mixed her two or three nips of rum and cola in a sports bottle, the court was told.
The couple found it amusing when the little girl immediately started staggering.
She fell over and knocked her head.
It was only after the youngster vomited and they had trouble rousing her that they became concerned.
Their daughter, who weighed just 12kg, had a 0.12 per cent blood alcohol concentration after arriving at hospital.
Upon learning she would not go to jail after pleading guilty yesterday to causing harm through negligence, the 19-year-old mother handed out high-fives as she left the court-room.
The teenager cannot be named to protect the identity of her little girl. The mother sat with crossed arms and appeared disinterested as she listened to the facts unfolding from the prisoner's dock of Maroochydore District Court.
The court heard she had just given premature birth in March to twin girls, who were expected to be released from hospital in the next fortnight.
The toddler's father has had a warrant issued for his arrest after he failed to appear in court.
Crown prosecutor Anthony Dillon said the alcohol content in the child's body equalled one standard drink.
He said she was "severely intoxicated" after being fed the alcohol about 2pm on March 11 last year.
"Given the (child) had vomited, she may have consumed more but it had not been absorbed," he said.
"... Vomit may have been inhaled because of gag reflex being inhibited.
"These are two people who should have known better," he said.
"They both stood in a position that should have held the child's welfare as paramount. "Their actions were stupid, irresponsible and criminally negligent."
Mr Dillon said while there were plenty of old wives tales of children having alcohol for medicinal purposes, "this has gone beyond that and is grossly negligent".
He said the parents tried to conceal that the child, who now lives with her paternal grandparents and has weekend access with her mother, had vomited.
"Both seem to have found the child's intoxication amusing," he said.
Barrister Mark McAuley said his client went to school until Year 9 and gave birth to her first daughter in May, 2004, at age 16.
He said she had since completed a parenting program and was allowed supervised custody for six hours on weekends.
"She realises she needs to improve her parenting skills," he said.
Mr McAuley said the baby did not suffer long-term effects. He said she was alert, normal and happy just two hours after the incident.
Judge Keith Dodds sentenced the mother to two years of probation but did not record a conviction.
"It is extremely irresponsible behaviour by parents in respect of a little child that should have been looked after rather than treated in this way," he said.
- SUNSHINE COAST DAILY
