WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Police arrested a man for leaving his 1-year-old baby in a car unattended during the early hours while he watched strippers at a nightclub in New Zealand’s capital, and have placed the boy in welfare agency care.
A passer-by called police after seeing the sleeping baby in a car parked near the Mermaid Strip Club in Wellington about 3 a.m. Tuesday.
Police took the baby to hospital and arrested the father, 42, after he was located in the club, Inspector Simon Perry said. The man faces a charge of leaving a child under 14 without reasonable supervision, Perry said.
The Child, Youth and Family agency has custody of the baby for five days while it works with the baby’s relatives to decide on his future, agency deputy chief executive Ray Smith said.
New Zealand’s commissioner for children, John Angus, said leaving a child alone in a car at night was an “extreme form of neglect.”
“I would commend the member of the public who saw this poor child in the car and took some action to make it safe” by alerting police, Angus told National Radio.
Authorities declined to confirm details of the baby’s family situation, but Angus said he expected relatives to step in and warn the father that “it’s not good enough for our child to be looked after this way.”
Did anyone check to see if he was just visiting the child’s mom?
