A Fife woman left a young child home alone overnight with no food or heating after drinking two bottles of whisky.
Kareen Moran, 40, told the girl in her care she was just nipping out for 10 minutes but went to the pub and did not come home until the next morning.
By that time the girl, who had eaten nothing but a raw carrot the day before, had called the police.
Moran, of West Park, Lochgelly, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court where she admitted wilfully neglecting the child by leaving her overnight in an insecure property with no food or heating at an address in Cowdenbeath on March 13.
Depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf said the girl made a 999 call to police at 9.20am.
“She said she was ‘home alone’ with no food and no money,” said the depute.
“Police arrived and found the front door was insecure. There was no heating on.”
She added: “The child said she was on her own and there was no food in the fridge or cupboards, apart from a cereal she didn’t like.
“All she had eaten since the day before was a raw carrot.”
Defence solicitor Fraser Napier described the incident as “poor decision-making”.
He said: “She can’t remember what happened that night and she woke up in someone else’s house.
“It was poor decision-making and she herself says it’s the most horrendous thing she’s ever done.”
Sheriff Charles Macnair pointed out that Moran had committed a “very similar” offence in 2009.
He told Moran: “You say you drank two bottles of whisky before the child returned from school.
“You told her you had to go out for 10 minutes but then didn’t return until the next morning by which time she had phoned the police.”
The sheriff imposed a community payback order with 200 hours of unpaid work and a six-month restriction of liberty order.
