Scots tot swallowed drugs after neglectful couple left pills around their home
Raymond Hunter and Siobhan Desykes also failed to properly care for or clothe the kids, looking after them in a filthy home, often while under the influence of drunk or drugs.
A couple left drugs lying about their home – then failed to take a toddler to hospital after she fell ill by taking the pills.
Raymond Hunter and Siobhan Desykes were looking after two toddlers at their home in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire.
But they left drugs, cigarettes and other items within reach of the youngsters.
And one of the toddlers managed to consume some benzodiazepines – used to treat anxiety and insomnia but also abused recreationally – after getting hold of the pills.
They also failed to properly care for or clothe the kids, looking after them in a filthy home, often while under the influence of drunk or drugs.
And Desykes was once so out of her face while looking after them that she dropped the younger girl on the ground while trying to carry her.
Hunter, 32, and Desykes, 24, admitted their guilt previously and returned to Kilmarnock Sheriff Court last week to be sentenced.
Hunter pleaded guilty to “culpably and recklessly leaving controlled drugs within reach of young children”, who can´t be named for legal reasons, leading to the two-year-old taking them.
The charge, which had also alleged she consumed cannabis he’d left out, stated he “did fail to seek any medical treatment for her” after she fell ill from the drugs.
They both admitted a charge which stated they “did wilfully neglect and expose said children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health”.
The charge stated they looked after the kids while drunk and on drugs, failed to keep drugs, cigarettes and other items away from them, and failed to step in when the kids tried to take the drugs.
They also admitted failing to clothe the children properly and failing to keep them property clean enough for them, in breach of Section 12(1) of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937.
Desykes also admitted a charge of culpable and reckless conduct by being so intoxicated through alcohol and or drugs that she lost her balance and dropped the one-year-old whilst carrying her.
Sheriff Colin Bissett was told the couple had split up after “things were brought to a head by the incident” and said they had been unaware of how to look after children.
He told them: “You realise you need to do better and engage with social services.”
He placed Hunter on a Community Payback Order which will see him supervised by social workers for two years and having to complete 144 hours’ unpaid work.
He was also ordered to undergo drug treatment for two years, and the hours were reduced from 180 as he admitted his guilt.
Desykes was also placed on a two-year-long Community Payback Order which will also see her supervised by social workers and having to undergo drug treatment.
