Kids left at home alone as mum parties

Cherie Taylor | 10th March 2010

A Rotorua mother who left her two young sons home alone while she went out drinking for the night to celebrate her birthday has been fined for leaving them unsupervised.

Katherine Ariana Brown, 29, was fined $150 and ordered to pay $130 when she appeared before Judge Chris McGuire for sentencing in the Rotorua District Court yesterday on two charges of leaving the boys aged 5 and 9 without adult supervision.

But the director of lobby group Family First, Bob McCoskrie, told the Daily Post a fine would not solve the problem and Brown needed ongoing monitoring.

Judge McGuire originally planned to remand Brown for a pre-sentence report to help the court determine if there were any issues which needed addressing as to why the children were left unsupervised.

However, Brown's lawyer Olivia Brittain told the court the only penalty which could be imposed was a fine.

Police prosecutor Aroha Cooper told the court that about 11pm on Saturday, December 12, Brown went into central Rotorua with a friend drinking, to celebrate her birthday, leaving the boys on their own at their Glenholme home.

A neighbour heard one of the boys crying and the other yelling inside the house in the early hours of the next morning and rang police.

When police arrived at the house just before 3am, the boys were in the lounge playing PlayStation games together, Ms Cooper said.

Brown arrived home a short time later in an agitated and intoxicated state, carrying a McDonald's meal which she had picked up on the way home for herself.

She told police she had left the children at home because it was her birthday and she had asked neighbours to check on them regularly.

Ms Brittain told the court this wasn't something her client normally did when she went out.

"It was her birthday. She got the neighbours to check on the children giving them her cellphone number to ring her if there were any problems," she said. "She simply didn't go out and just leave them alone."

Judge McGuire asked Ms Cooper to put a note on Brown's file so if she left the children alone again she would face more serious charges.

"Then we can get probation involved to determine if there are any other problems," he said.

In New Zealand it is against the law to leave children under 14 on their own without taking reasonable steps for their care and supervision. The maximum penalty for leaving a child under 14 on their own is a $2000 fine.

Following Brown's sentencing, Mr McCoskrietold the Daily Post this was a case of neglect where there could have been really serious consequences.

"I would have expected at least some ongoing monitoring," he said.

"It has been shown nationally that we are not very good at monitoring parents on an ongoing basis when parents have quite obviously stepped over the line."

Children should never be left unsupervised, especially young children, Mr McCoskrie said.

"These were very young kids, she got home really late. The potential for a really bad consequence was there," he said.

"A $150 fine doesn't solve the problem at all.

"We need to ensure the safety of the children, have some ongoing monitoring. It may have been a one-off but it's better to be safe than sorry."

- Additional reporting Tamlyn Stewart and Alison King