Boy (9) had to prop up drunk father

Tuesday 23rd March 2010, 3:00PM GMT.

Assistant Magistrate Bridget Shaw

A DRUNKEN father who had to be propped up by his nine-year-old son as they walked home has become the second person within a week to be sentenced for child neglect.

Assistant Magistrate Bridget Shaw warned that the safety of children must come first and that the court would always take their neglect very seriously.

The new case comes days after a ten-year-old girl, dressed only in pyjamas and a jacket, was left to walk home alone through St Helier in the middle of the night while her drunk mother visited her boyfriend.

In the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, a 34-year-old man – who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child – was sentenced to six months’ probation after he admitted exposing his son to a risk of harm on Thursday 11 February at Snow Hill.

Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.