A mother who left her baby outside an Opotiki church while she drank beer and danced inside a bar has been sentenced in the Whakatane District Court.
Arohanui O Te Ao Geldard, 29, was yesterday convicted on charges of leaving a child under the age of 14 unsupervised, and theft.
She was fined $500 and court costs for leaving her child alone, sentenced to 120 hours' community work and nine months' supervision and ordered to pay reparation of $7.50 on the theft charge.
A police summary stated that at 12.11pm on February 11, police were called to Slims Bar in Opotiki as a young child, thought to be 6 months old, had been found in a pram outside a church on Church St.
When police arrived, Maori wardens were caring for the baby, who appeared to be cold and hungry. The child wore only a nappy and a singlet, with a thin blanket covering his legs, and had been screaming.
