‘Zombie-like’ mother found guilty of ill treating 2-month-old
The mother of a young baby who was found in a ‘‘zombie-like state’’ after smoking synthetic cannabis has been convicted of ill treating her children.
Rotorua police found the woman swaying and slurring while holding her 8-week-old baby when they attended a call in August to assist ambulance staff dealing with an unconscious man, who was also affected by synthetic cannabis. Two children were at the house – the woman’s 8-weekold and a 5-year-old.
Details of the scene can be revealed for the first time after the mother, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, was convicted of two charges of ill treatment of a child in the Rotorua District Court.
Judge Tony Snell revealed that on arrival police discovered the occupants all in ‘‘various druginduced states’’.
The baby was initially on a pillow
"[The child] seemed very hungry."
Judge Tony Snell
on the floor with the mother sitting in front, but she picked the child up when see saw the police.
‘‘The police immediately became concerned about how you were holding your child,’’ Snell said to the woman.
The woman was described as swaying and failing to support the baby’s head before the child was taken by police.
‘‘You were told to sit down before you fell down,’’ Snell said, noting the mother was ‘‘in as much of a zombie-like state as the other occupants’’.
The court was also told another woman then entered in what was described as a psychotic state.
‘‘[She was] grunting, vomiting over herself and carrying on like a zombie . . . it was quite clear the 5-year-old observed that.’’
Snell said that while in the police car being taken from the scene the baby drank a whole bottle of milk.
‘‘[The child] seemed very hungry.’’
It was also noted that twice during the journey the child’s eyes rolled back in its head.
While the court was told both children appear to have suffered no issues from their exposure to the synthetic cannabis, Snell was scathing.
‘‘A parent’s role is to care and protect their children, not to expose them to synthetic cannabis,’’ he said.
He also emphasised how vulnerable both the children were when found.
‘‘[This was] child abuse of a serious nature and type and it needs to be treated this way,’’ he said.
The woman, who was convicted after changing her not-guilty plea to guilty, will be sentenced in April.