Mother who lef t sick daughter, 13, to die as she went to the pub
A MOTHER left her dying daughter at home to go to the pub – later stating the child was ‘at it’.
Sharon Goldie dismissed 13-yearold Robyn’s suffering as ‘attentionseeking’ and left her alone to die.
She returned from the pub with a friend to find the girl slumped on the sofa, but continued drinking outside.
It was only after they discovered she was dead that an ambulance was called.
At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, Goldie, 45, pleaded guilty to a charge under the Children and Young Persons Act of wilfully ill-treating and neglecting Robyn. Prosecutors accepted her not guilty plea to the culpable homicide of her daughter.
The court heard Robyn had lived with Goldie until she was four before moving in with her grandmother. She had earlier been put on the child protection register after Goldie was found drunk while supposedly caring for her.
Robyn had also once been forced to call a gas company complaining of being cold.
This led to the child staying with her grandmother until 2017, in what was described as a ‘stable life’. Robyn then returned to her mother in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, when she started secondary school. However, social workers continued to monitor the pair.
Prosecutor Ashley Edwards, QC, said: ‘Goldie was offered – on various occasions – the opportunity to attend parenting classes. She declined to attend.’
Goldie’s drinking caused ‘friction’ with her daughter and she had asked for Robyn to be removed from her care.
Social workers visited the pair, often unannounced, with arguing between them described as ‘common’. The court heard how Robyn told a friend she did not like her mother, a regular at the Melody Bar in Wishaw, drinking.
Miss Edwards said: ‘Robyn was often seen there looking for Goldie and asking for money to buy food. She often approached a neighbour asking for £1 to get food.’
Robyn was described as ‘thin, dirty and unkempt’. The child told friends Goldie would offer her cannabis and alcohol while ‘constantly’ insisting she did not want her in the house. In March 2018, Robyn was found to have a rash caused by fleas.
The week before her death, Robyn was given painkillers after complaining of a sore stomach and legs. On July 21, Goldie told staff at the Melody Bar she had ‘locked’ her daughter in the house ‘so she could not get out’.
The next day, Robyn told a friend she had been ill and had not eaten for days. On July 26, the day she died, the court heard it is ‘thought likely’ a stomach ulcer burst. At 9.40am, a social worker called for
Robyn. However, Miss Edwards explained: ‘Goldie spoke, through the letterbox, explaining that Robyn was not well.’
Despite her daughter being ill, Goldie went to the pub. She then returned home with a friend to find Robyn on a sofa. There was no response from Robyn.
Miss Edwards said: ‘Goldie and the man got another drink from the fridge and went outside “because the weather was nice”.’
The friend later checked on Robyn again and discovered she was dead. An ambulance was called but Goldie told paramedics: ‘She’s at it.’ On then being told her daughter had passed away, a suddenly ‘wailing’ Goldie stated: ‘No, she cannot be.’
Robyn was found to have died from peritonitis as a result of a perforated ulcer. A medic said that had the teenager been treated during her illness, she would have been ‘expected to survive’.
The court heard Goldie had suffered a brain injury following a car accident when she was a child.
In 2003, she was an in-patient for mental health issues, but stopped taking her medication.
Lord Beckett continued her bail and Goldie will return to court for sentencing next month.
‘Thin, dirty and unkempt’