Man jailed after baby ingested cocaine

A Blairgowrie man has been sentenced to a year-and-a-half in prison after a newborn baby he was supposed to be caring for ingested cocaine and stopped breathing.

Perth Sheriff Court heard Geo Wheeler was tasked with looking after the nine week-old boy while the child’s mother attended a funeral but the infant was exposed to the Class A drug during their time together.

Fiscal depute Bill Kermode said the child had already been ill for some time when he was left in the care of Wheeler at a property in Rattray.

He said a friend of Wheeler’s turned up at the property and the pair decided to take two lines of cocaine each, despite the fact Wheeler was supposed to be watching out for the baby.

Mr Kermode said it became clear something was wrong with the child as time wore on as he was constantly crying, his heart was beating faster than normal and he was refusing to feed.

He said the child ended up being taken to a medical centre where he subsequently stopped breathing and had to be given CPR for around 15 minutes to revive him.

The court heard urine samples taken from the child during his distress later showed he had ingested cocaine.

It was said that Wheeler then admitted he had taken cocaine while he was looking after the baby and suggested he might have passed some to the child, either from his body or his personal items.

Wheeler (30), of Myrtle Park, Blairgowrie, pled guilty to culpably and recklessly causing the baby to ingest cocaine to the danger of his life between December 1 and December 2, 2020.

A solicitor acting for Wheeler said it was never his intention to purposely give the child cocaine.

Sheriff Euan Duthie told Wheeler:“This is an extremely serious offence and in my view demonstrates a high degree of recklessness and carelessness.”

He sentenced Wheeler to 18 months in prison.