I had a Michael Jackson moment
Mum’s excuse for dangling baby out of window
THIS is the horrifying moment a mother dangled her child out of an upstairs window in a recreation of the infamous stunt by Michael Jackson.
The woman held the infant precariously in the air by its wrists shouting ‘Wacko Jacko!’ as a song by Jackson played on the radio.
She later told police: ‘I’ve been stupid for dangling the child out of the window – I was having a Michael Jackson moment.’
The chilling image mirrors the moment when Jackson dangled his baby over a third floor hotel balcony in Berlin in 2002.
The woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, admitted exposing the child to danger at Hull Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. She was only reported to police when the child’s father, from Hull, saw pictures of the incident, which happened earlier this year.
The father said: ‘I saw what was on the picture and I was mortified, as you can imagine.
‘I was sick, I felt ill... it would take some strength for me to dangle my child out of a window – my child could have been killed.’
The photograph, which has been altered to protect the infant’s identity, shows the woman laughing as she dangles the child.
District Judge Frederick Rutherford said: ‘ It would seem that the cause for this extremely serious action came about as a result of a Michael Jackson song being played in the background, and that she copied his antics by dangling the child out of the window.
‘ She was shouting “Wacko Jacko!” as she was doing it.’
Addressing comments from the woman that the child was not at risk, the judge told Dean Bower, defending: ‘How your client can say the child would not be in any danger from what I’ve seen in the photographs is beyond belief.’
Mr Bower added that it was a ‘ moment of madness’ by his client, who was ‘full of shame and remorse’.
The woman, who is in her 20s, admitted unlawfully endangering the life or health of a child, and was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
‘Child could have been killed’