Mum finds ice in parents’ room at shopping centre
A MUM-OF-THREE was shocked to find remnants of the drug ice in the parents’ room of a shopping centre last week.
The woman was at Gatton Square Shopping Centre changing her son’s nappy when she found an empty syringe packet and “a couple of crystals” of ice in the bag.
She was disgusted by the incident and was horrified to think what could have happened if her two-year-old hadn’t been strapped into her pram.
“How many children go in and out of them and could easily pick up the bag of ice and put it in their mouth? It’s very scary,” she said.
The shopping centre management and Gatton Police have both been notified of the incident.
A MOTHER of three young children who recently moved to Gatton has taken to social media to express her “disgust” at finding remnants of the drug ice in the parents’ room of the Gatton Square Shopping Centre.
Elizabeth - who would prefer not to use her surname - has three children aged 11, two and eight months.
Her two youngest children were with her when she found an empty syringe packet and “a couple of crystals” of ice in the bottom of the bag.
“My 11-year-old was in another toilet and I went into the parents’ room to change my son’s nappy,” Elizabeth said.
“I didn’t even see the bag at first and went to wash my hands, and it was sitting right in the corner of the sink.
“I’m lucky my two-year-old was in the pram - if he wasn’t in the pram I’d hate to think if he had grabbed that.”
She said there was no syringe visible and her partner came and removed the drug with toilet paper.
Elizabeth said she hadn’t reported the incident to police or the shopping centre management, but posted a picture and comments on a Gatton Buy Swap Sell noticeboard page as she wanted people to be aware of what had happened.
“Especially being in the parents’ room of all the places. How many children go in and out of them and could easily pick up the bag of ice and put it in their mouth. It’s very scary,” she said.
Gatton Police Station officer in charge Senior Sergeant Roland Browne said incidents should be reported to management, and people should not touch a syringe if they come across it.
He said if a syringe was found in an obviously dangerous place - such as a children’s sand pit at a play park - then the advice would be to move it.
A spokesman for Gatton Square Centre Management said they took “all incidents of this nature very seriously” and that the safety of shoppers, tenant customers and the broader community was “always the priority”.