A Melbourne mother who left her 14-month-old boy alone in a car in 38-degree heat last week has been allowed to see the child in hospital.
The boy was rescued from a parked car outside The Brook Point Cook Hotel in Melbourne’s west about 3:15pm on Wednesday.
He remains in a critical but stable condition at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH).
The mother, a 32-year-old Gladstone Park woman, has been charged with negligently causing serious injury and reckless conduct endangering life.
Her bail conditions were revised following an appearance in the Melbourne’s Magistrate’s Court today, enabling her to visit her son in hospital.
A hospital spokeswoman said no further updates on the child’s condition would be provided to the public at request of the family.
“This is not an indication that the condition has worsened [or] improved or stayed the same. But at the family’s request, we will not be providing this information going forward,” the spokeswoman said.
Child ‘left in danger of death’
Court charge sheets indicate the mother left her child “in a vehicle for an extended period in 38-degree heat that [placed the child] in danger of death”.
The Brook Point Cook Hotel is marketed as a family-friendly venue with a restaurant, a function room, a cafe and live entertainment as well as gaming rooms.
In court today, the accused sat quietly in the public gallery wearing a black suit jacket and supported by her mother.
Her lawyer, Cameron Allen, requested a suppression order to stop the publication of the child’s grandmother, citing it would cause “undue stress and embarrassment to a witness”.
The application was rejected by Magistrate Suzanne Cameron.
“The embarrassment ground is a difficult one,” Magistrate Cameron said.
“There is regrettably an inevitable overflow for others.”
The accused was ordered to hand over her passport and was due back in court for a committal case conference in April.
Almost 1,500 children — typically babies and toddlers — were left in vehicles in Victoria in the first 11 months of last year, according to Victoria’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos.