DASH TO THE SHOPS LANDS IN COURT
A Brisbane mother has pleaded guilty to leaving her three children in the car, with engine running and air-conditioning on, while she ducked into the shops for 10 minutes. A bystander noticed the children – the eldest of whom was 10 – in the car and watched them for five minutes before phoning the police.
Queensland has laws that state children under 12 should not be left alone for an ‘unreasonable’ amount of time.
The magistrate said the woman was co-operative and helpful and had excellent character references.
Her defence lawyer said: “We’re not talking about a car park outside a casino.”
She was released without penalty.
Here’s what else is on our radar today:
1. A dog has won Britain’s Got Talent and claimed the $800,000 top prize. Well, his owner did the last part.
2. The developed world throws out as much food in waste each year as sub-Saharan Africa produces. Whoa. Professor Chris Barrett, from Cornell University, is in Australia warning of the massive increases in the cost of food production to come in the next few decades.
3. ‘One of our greatest Australians’, according to Malcolm Turnbull, has passed away peacefully on Sunday. Don Ritchie saved some 500 would-be suicide victims from jumping off Sydney’s notorious suicide spot The Gap. He lived nearby and would keep watch, talking people down from the bring and offering a cuppa and a biscuit. He was 85.
4. Online shoppers, take note. The Aussie dollar has fallen below parity with the greenback for the first time in 2012. It’s worth 99.80 US cents and is likely to slip lower.
5. How young is too young for Facebook? Australian Bureau of Statistics stats show about 2.2 million Aussie kids aged five to 14 are on the social network, despite its age limit saying users had to be at least 13.
6. Apparently Oprah and the US First lady Michelle Obama are not at all on friendly terms. That’s according to a new book written by a former New York Times Magazine editor. The White House says the stories are ‘made up’.
Top Comments
Years ago a woman came into the shop where I was working to get a few things leaving her young daughter in the car. The car was parked at the front of the shop...it became really noticable though when smoke started pouring from it. We didn't realise the child was in the car until the mother started scraming and ran outside. My best friend (and boss) pulled the little girl out of the car while we hosed it down. She was on fire, luckily there was a hair salon training facility next door and they could put her under water immediately and got a head start of first aid. It all happened so quickly and that little girl had to go through years of rehab, pressure suits and operations and was scarred for life. I'm sure her mother wishes she had got her out of the car and brought her into the shop.
So, I would never leave my kids in the car while shopping, it's just not worth the risk .
How did the fire start?
Sorry Kris, have just seen your comment now! They weren't sure how it started, they think possibly an electrical fault or something. She had been driving for a couple of hours previous (fromt the country to town) so maybe something overheated?
The dog and owner performed, not just the dog. From the couple of clips I saw, it looked like the owner put a hell of a lot of work into each performance.