A dad has appeared in court after drunkenly falling asleep on top of his distressed nine-year-old daughter, trapping her underneath him for an hour.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his children, had been looking after his daughter and her younger brother at the time of the incident.
He drank so much that he ended up falling asleep on top of the girl’s legs and could not be roused as the distressed youngsters frantically tried to wake him and lift him off.
Despite the disturbing incident – which the girl filmed on her mobile phone – the 42-year-old today insisted to a sheriff that he did not have an alcohol problem, blaming the offence on lockdown stress.
Fiscal depute Emma Petersen told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the dad was the only adult present at the address in Aberdeenshire and was “consuming alcohol to excess”.
Ms Petersen said: “The daughter was sitting on the sofa in the living room.
“The accused fell asleep on top of her legs due to his level of intoxication.
‘I was struggling with lockdown and the amount of childcare I was doing’
“This caused her to be trapped underneath the accused.
“She made several attempts to rouse the accused with no success.
“The son was also present and he became distressed about the situation.
“He also attempted to rouse the accused to no avail.”
Ms Petersen told the court part of the incident was recorded on the daughter’s mobile phone, during which the son can be heard “crying and repeatedly asking the accused for a bottle of milk”.
She added: “The accused did not respond to any of these prompts and remained asleep.
“About an hour after the incident had commenced, the children were able to remove the girl’s legs from underneath the accused.
“The accused did not wake up at that time.”
‘No, I don’t think I have a problem’
The children later told their mother what had happened and the matter was reported to the police.
The girl was left with bruising to her legs, the court was told.
The dad pled guilty to wilfully neglecting his children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to health by becoming “unconscious and insensible” while under the influence of alcohol and while the only adult in the house, by falling asleep on the sofa on top of his daughter’s legs.
The incident, which happened in April 2020, resulted in injury to his daughter and caused both children fear and alarm.
Representing himself in court, without a solicitor, the man explained: “The context was the period of time it happened, which was about a month into the first lockdown.
“Social work called me about it. I said sorry, it was not a good situation. It was irresponsible.
‘You shouldn’t see it as some kind of let off for what took place’
“I was really struggling with lockdown and the amount of childcare I was doing.”
Sheriff Ian Duguid asked the father if he had seen his children since the case started, and if he still carried out childcare duties.
He replied “yes” to both questions.
Asked whether he recognised he had a problem with alcohol, the dad responded: “No, I don’t think I have a problem.
“I was very irresponsible at the time, but I don’t recognise a wider problem.”
Sheriff Duguid deferred sentence on the man, whose address was given as Aberdeenshire, for a year for him to be of good behaviour.
He warned: “You shouldn’t see it as some kind of let off for what took place.
“It’s more that the court is putting you in a position of trust for 12 months.
“If you were to re-offend in any way that would be a serious matter.”
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