No jail for woman who abandoned disabled girl

Harper had her sentence deferred for three months for good behaviour A woman who admitted leaving a disabled six-year-old girl outside overnight in freezing temperatures has been told she will not face a prison sentence. Kate Harper, 26, left the child, who is blind and deaf, strapped in her pram in Kingspark, Glasgow, last November. Glasgow Sheriff Court heard the girl suffered hypothermia and almost died. Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell said Harper's behaviour was an isolated crime and deferred sentence for three months to allow her to show good behaviour. The court was told that Harper attended a party on Bonfire night (5 November) which turned into a late-night drinking session. When she took the youngster back to her house she realised she had forgotten her keys and abandoned the girl outside. She headed back to collect the keys but instead of returning with them went to sleep in her sister's house. I am satisfied that this very serious crime can be properly regarded as an isolated one

Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell The court heard that the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was discovered just before 0830 GMT on 6 November. A bus driver and classroom assistant arrived to take her to school, where she receives supported learning. They saw the pram, which had tipped over, and noticed that the child was in it with her face pressed against the stone stairs outside the house. She was shivering and her lips were blue. As paramedics later treated the girl, Harper was spotted walking down the street from her sister's house. Police officers spoke to her, and she told them she had very little recollection of what had happened the night before. She was taken to Aikenhead Road police office and later admitted to abandoning the girl. 'Reckless conduct' The youngster was taken to Yorkhill Hospital where doctors treated her for hypothermia and bruising from the straps of the pram. At an earlier hearing, Harper admitted culpable and reckless conduct by abandoning the girl outside her home. Appearing for sentencing, Sheriff Mitchell told Harper that her conduct was "wholly unacceptable and reprehensible". The sheriff said: "It is accepted that the accused's culpable and reckless conduct on this occasion caused this very disabled child distress, injury, hypothermia and endangered her life. "Miss Harper drank far too much and, as a result, she was culpably reckless in regard to her responsibilities towards this child. "But I am satisfied that this very serious crime can be properly regarded as an isolated one. "I therefore consider that the proper course is to defer sentence for a short period of three months to enable the accused to demonstrate her continued good behaviour."



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