A father has lost custody of his young daughter after asking Alexa to look after the child while he was out drinking.
The 30-year-old man in question reportedly left his 5-year-old daughter all alone at home as he sneaked out to go to a series of bars with his new girlfriend.
Before leaving his daughter at 8 in the evening, the man allegedly also set up Alexa at her bedside so that he could monitor his daughter from the pubs he was visiting.
The child neglect, however, was not discovered until later that night when police arrived at the man’s home following neighbors’ reports of screaming coming from the garden.
As the police found out, the man strangled his new girlfriend following their drinking session. The police then also realized that the man left his young daughter unsupervised while he was out partying.
“They had been drinking vodka and gin with lemonade at home from around 8 pm. The defendant’s daughter was in the house but in bed,” the prosecutors said.
“He wasn’t going to go out but he was not chuffed when she said she was going out without him, so he went out as well.
“He set up an Alexa camera in the bedroom so he could watch the child while they were out. She wasn’t sure if he went back at all during the evening to check on her.”
The court also heard that the man and the child’s biological mother shared custody of the 5-year-old girl and that the father was solely responsible for looking after his child on that day.
The man has since lost custody of his daughter and has been handed a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.
“He is a young man of previous good character, who has entered guilty pleas to serious offences,” his defense said.
“The consequences of this will be felt by him for a long time. His daughter has been taken away and it was largely him who cared for her.
“He felt he was keeping an eye on his daughter but he realizes you can’t do that remotely. There was some effort by him to keep an eye on her but he knows the standards fell below what is expected of a parent.”
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