A woman who fell into an alcohol and drug-fuelled sleep while a pet ferret mauled a toddler has returned to court for sentencing.
Natasha Beattie awoke to screams from the three-year-old boy who was covered in blood from bites and scratches.
He’d suffered more than 200 injuries, including 50 bite and puncture wounds that have left him permanently scarred.
Earlier, Beattie had put the child to bed, before downing two bottles of blue WKD and more than double her prescribed dose of Quetiapine – a medication used for mental health conditions.
The 33-year-old said the child’s scars are a daily reminder of how she had failed him, Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told.
‘Crying hysterically’
When she last appeared in the dock, the court heard that the ferret, belonging to Beattie’s then-partner, was usually allowed to roam freely in the property but was shut in a bedroom if a child was there.
After putting the boy to bed, Beattie “consumed alcohol and 200mg of Quetiapine, over
two times her prescribed dose”.
Fiscal depute Jennifer Pritchard explained that the child woke her as he ran along the hallway, crying at 4.3oam at an address in Aberdeen back in January last year.
She added: “On opening the door, she found him covered in blood, with blood on his face, hands, feet and pyjamas and he was crying hysterically”.
Checking the toddler over, Beattie saw bite marks and scratches on his face, arms, hands and feet and realised that he’d been bitten by the ferret.
She also saw “deep pierced bite marks” on his left arm.
Beattie then sent a number of videos of the injuries to her father, who immediately told her to call for an ambulance.
‘200 individual injuries’
But the woman ignored his advice, instead phoning NHS24 and, when she was told to take the boy to the hospital immediately, she hung up.
The call handler contacted the police after making “repeated attempts” to get hold of the woman “without success”.
Police then instructed the concerned operator to send an ambulance.
When paramedics arrived at 5am, they found Beattie and the boy were dressed to leave the address.
The medics examined “significant bite and scratch marks to his face, including near to both eyes, both arms, both hands and both of his feet”.
The child had to be carried to the ambulance after embracing a paramedic in a hug and refusing to let go.
Beattie’s speech was slurred and she struggled to stay awake as her eyes “rolled in the back of her head” on the way to the hospital.
Five days in hospital
While at the children’s hospital, Beattie fell asleep in a bed and medical staff found her “difficult to rouse”.
They discovered that the toddler had more than 200 individual injuries to his face, neck, back, arms, hands, legs and feet.
Among the wounds were 25 that appeared infected and required surgery, which left permanent scarring.
The three-year-old had to stay in the hospital for five days.
Beattie’s defence agent Graham Morrison told the court: “She took her prescribed medication as and when needed, not the prescribed amount.
“Sometimes she took more and sometimes she took less.
“What she shouldn’t have done, is drink alcohol with that medication. She did, and that caused her to fall into a very deep sleep.
“She was not abusing alcohol and she was not abusing drugs. It was a small amount of alcohol she consumed.”
‘Absolutely devastated’
Mr Morrison said that Beattie was not aware that her partner had got up during the night to feed the animal and it had then escaped.
“She was absolutely devastated by what happened”, he added.
He said his client feels that she has “failed” the boy and that the “small scars” left behind serve as a daily reminder of that.
“Whatever the court does, she will never feel worse than she already does about what she allowed to happen that night,” the solicitor explained.
‘Background health issues’
In her initial police statement, Beattie said she’d drunk two bottles of blue WKD and had 200mg of Quetiapine, which she claimed was her prescribed dose.
But checks revealed that the actual prescribed dose was, in fact, 75mg.
She also admitted knowing it was not recommended to consume alcohol with the medication because it could increase the effect of the sedative.
Beattie pled guilty to the charge of wilfully exposing the child in a manner likely to cause him unnecessary suffering or injury to health.
Sheriff Andrew Miller told her: “There are background issues regarding your own health and use of alcohol you could benefit from support with for the future.”
He handed Beattie, of Bruce House in Aberdeen, a 14-month supervision order and 120 hours of unpaid work.
It is not known what has happened to the ferret since the attack.
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