A CHILD wandered unattended through Perth railway station as their carer recovered from his previous night’s drug binge.
Witnesses looked on horrified as Fergus Kennedy “staggered” about on a platform, with no regard for his charge’s wellbeing.
The 36-year-old was even seen to ignore the youngster’s request to go to the loo, instead choosing to finish his cigarette.
One onlooker followed the Fife man as he made his way to the station entrance, still unsteady on his feet.
Perth Sheriff Court heard yesterday that Kennedy walked up to a vehicle parked outside and “slumped” over the bonnet.
Meanwhile, the young child, described as “visibly upset”, tried in vain to rouse him and cried for help.
Depute fiscal Robbie Brown said: “He was roused to some degree, but was clearly very much under the influence.
“The child was becoming more and more distressed and the police were contacted.”
When officers arrived at the scene, they found Kennedy with his eyes closed and yellow mucus coming from his mouth, and he was making “snorting” noises.
Solicitor Linda Clark revealed that her client had been asked to look after the child at the last minute and agreed, despite taking 12 diazepam tablets and cannabis the night before.
The situation is that he had care of the child and did not appear to be under the influence, but this matter has progressed fairly quickly.
“His recollection was that when he changed trains at Perth, he began to feel unwell. His position is that he hadn’t anticipated feeling unwell and when he did, he thought it would pass.”
Kennedy, of Mill Brae, Cupar, admitted that on September 22 he wilfully behaved in a manner likely to cause uneccessary suffering to the child in his care by consuming a substance that caused him to slur his words, stagger, collapse and foam at the mouth.
Jailing him for five months, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “Because of the condition you got yourself into, you left the child totally unsupervised in a busy car park at around lunchtime on a Saturday afternoon while you fell asleep or became unconscious over a car bonnet.
“Taxis come in and out of there all the time and the child could easily have run out in front of one and been knocked down.”
sandragray@thecourier.co.uk