A 33-year-old woman, Wendy Hall has been jailed over the death of her 7-year-old son, Malakye, who she left at home alone to visit her boyfriend in the United Kingdom.
It was gathered that the woman abandoned her son in a locked house to see her partner, but the little boy managed to unlock the door of their home and was hit by a car on Manchester Road.
Hall had left her mobile phone with Malakye for him to play on while she went to see her boyfriend, but it appeared he got out of the house shortly after she left and wandered onto a busy road, where he was hit and killed by a taxi.
Police were alerted to the scene and they recovered the damaged phone in the boy’s possession, leading them to the house, which has its door open with no electricity or gas in the house at the time.
Hall was then traced to her partner’s home and taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary to identify the body of her son, who she abandoned at their house in Lindley Road, Bradford.
During the hearing at Bradford Crown Court, Prosecutor Abigail Langford said when Hall was interviewed the next day she admitted leaving Malakye at home on his own.
“She told officers she had left the door to the premises locked so that Malakye could not go out,” Miss Langford said.
Hall told the court that she had moved from the Lindley Road address to live with her sister but had gone back to pick up some belongings. She said she intended to take her son to her partner’s but the boy changed his mind about going.
Miss Langford added: “She said she did not think Malakye could use the bolt on the back door.”
The woman was accused of deliberately disregarding the welfare of Malakye by leaving him alone in a house which had no electricity or gas.’
“I’ve no reason to doubt you locked the door to stop him getting out but as we know he did with those tragic consequences.
“This is category one harm in my judgment. The deliberate act of leaving Malakye alone and vulnerable resulted in his death,” Recorder Tahir Khan QC told Hall.
Hall pleaded guilty to neglecting her child and was jailed for three years. She also received an additional 18 months in prison for other matters.
KanyiDaily had also reported how a woman was jailed for allowing her husband to rape her 8-year-old daughter for seven years until she got pregnant in the United States.