A TODDLER has been left disabled and blind after his mum abandoned him in a scorching hot car for five hours while she played slot machines.
Kaija Millar found her 14-month-old tot Easton unresponsive and foaming at the mouth after leaving him locked in her car outside a gaming venue in Melbourne, Australia.
A court heard how the 34-year-old drove to The Brook complex at around 9.50am one morning in January 2020 and left Easton in the vehicle with the window rolled up despite the 31C heat.
The car had no air conditioning and she left him with just a bottle of water as she played slot machines and bingo in behaviour slammed as "appalling" the judge.
Although temperatures skyrocketed to a sweltering 37.5C, Millar only eventually went out to check on the youngster just before 3pm, reports news.com.au.
The first-time mum was horrified to find Easton convulsing and unresponsive – prompting to her run back into the venue screaming for help.
“He’s going to die, he’s going to die, don’t die bubba,” she said as she reportedly begged witnesses not to tell her husband what happened.
But after emergency services arrived at the scene, Millar told cops a pack of lies as she attempted at one point to blame the tot's injuries on bushfire smoke in the area.
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She has now been jailed for a maximum of three years after pleading guilty to negligently causing serious injury to her son.
The injuries Easton suffered were life-changing and “catastrophic”, the judge said, as he has been left seriously disabled, blind, struggling to speak and with cerebral palsy.
“You knew what you were doing was wrong,” Judge Felicity Hampel said as she handed down her sentence at the County Court of Victoria on Thursday.
“This was not a tragic accident, something unforeseen, unanticipated and unavoidable.
“Your son suffered these injuries because you left him unattended and uncared for in that hot, windows closed, locked car in an open-air car park on a scorching day while you were inside for five hours.”
Judge Hample took into account that Millar was a first-time mum who struggled with parenthood as she experienced postnatal depression and had a lower than average IQ of between 69-72.
Millar's defence said she had been overwhelmed by the demands of motherhood and felt unsupported by her husband.
But the judge told Millar she knew what she did was wrong.
“You’re a young woman whose circumstances are to some extent pathetic,” Judge Hampel said.
Millar must serve at least 12 months of her jail sentence before being eligible for parole.
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