Mothers who left kids in parked car during drinking binge face jail
The two women were unable to find their vehicle after the spree ended and assaulted a passerby who tried to help them
Two women who left their three small children locked in a car for several hours while they went on a drinking spree and were then unable to find the vehicle are facing prison sentences of more than two years.
The case dates back to September 2014, when the two women, aged 32 and 38, but who have not been named, parked in the center of the Basque capital of Vitoria, leaving three girls aged less than seven years old inside, and then visited a number of bars.
One of the women had reportedly assaulted a passerby earlier in the evening who had offered to call the police while they were searching for the vehicle
Municipal police officers were sent to the vehicle at around 11pm after one of the children called an emergency number to say: “We are locked in, we’re hungry and it’s dark.” When the mothers of the girls eventually appeared, they were informed by police officers that they faced charges of abandoning the three girls. One of the women then attempted to assault a police officer. The public prosecutor said the women later admitted to not remembering where she and her friend had parked the car “because they were drunk”. One of the women had reportedly assaulted a passerby earlier in the evening who had offered to call the police while they were searching for the vehicle.
Police say they arrested one of the women who attempted to drive the vehicle away and held her in the cells overnight.
Prosecutors add that one of the women had left her other child alone at home earlier the same day for several hours.
English version by Nick Lyne.
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