Toddler in hot car for ‘up to five hours’
A woman has been charged after allegedly leaving a baby boy locked in a hot car outside a hotel in Melbourne's southwest, as police investigate whether she was playing pokies inside.
Police were called to the Brook Hotel on Sneydes Road in Point Cook about 3.15pm on Wednesday following reports a child had been left in a car alone.
Paramedics arrived and treated the boy at the scene before transporting him to the Royal Children's Hospital in a critical condition.
The 14-month-old boy, who was allegedly left in the vehicle for up to five hours, was on Thursday still fighting for his life in hospital.
His 32-year-old mother was charged overnight by the Westgate Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team with negligently causing serious injury and reckless conduct endangering life.
She was released on bail and is due before Melbourne Magistrates' Court on January 23.
If the boy does not survive, the investigation could be transferred to the homicide squad, the Herald Sun reports.
Alison Connell, 58, who lives across the road from the pub told the newspaper: "My mum called me and said there's been a child left in a car and it's in a pretty bad way. I was horrified."
Temperatures in Melbourne reached up to 36C on Wednesday.
