The mother who left her five children in a van in a SkyCity Casino carpark while she and her partner gambled inside has escaped conviction partly because she hopes to become a social worker.
The 29-year-old woman and her 39-year-old partner - who both have name suppression to protect the identities of their children - were sentenced in Auckland District Court today after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of leaving a child unsupervised.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of a $2000 fine.
The parents spent two hours playing slot machines and drinking at the casino bar while their five children, aged between 11 months and nine years, were left in a van in the casino carpark on the morning of February 26.
According to the police summary, the woman took "one minute" to check on the children after an hour before returning to the slot machines.
The children were found after a couple heard "hysterical crying" coming from the van and called police.
Judge Grant Fraser said police opposed the application for a discharge without conviction and said the five children had been put in a vulnerable position and exposed to "dangers".
"You behaved in a manner where there was a complete lack of judgement on your part," Judge Fraser told the woman.
"In effect, you left the children for a period of two hours unattended, although I accept that after one hour you did go back to check on them."
But he said the woman had voluntarily booked herself into an institution to undergo counselling.
Her children were put into the care of Child Youth and Family but they have since been returned to her.
He also took on board submissions made by the woman's lawyer Richard Slade who told the court his client hoped to one day become a social worker.
But the woman's partner - who also applied to keep the conviction from his record - was not so fortunate.
Judge Fraser said the man's application for a discharge without conviction was made because he was applying for a passenger endorsement licence from the New Zealand Transport Agency. The licence is needed to become a taxi driver.
Judge Fraser said the man did not meet the test because he had other criminal convictions. He convicted the man and ordered him to pay $132 court costs.
"A conscious decision was made by you to gamble while the children were in the vehicle and they were left in a particular careless and dangerous situation."
The man and woman declined to comment as they left court.
According to figures from the Department of Internal Affairs, the number of cases of children abandoned at Auckland's SkyCity Casino has almost tripled in two years.
There were 54 incidents of children being left unattended in 2011, compared with 46 in 2010 and just 19 the year before.
