Toddler clings to life after he was allegedly left in hot car
The “distraught” family of a 14-month-old boy who was allegedly left in a hot car while his mother played the pokies, are keeping vigil by the boy’s side as he clings to life in hospital.
VIC News
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A 14-month-old boy who was allegedly left in a hot car while his mother played the pokies was last night still clinging to life in hospital.
Police have charged the toddler’s mother Kaija Millar, 32, with negligently causing serious injury and reckless conduct endangering life.
A neighbour last night claimed nobody, including Ms Millar’s husband, Steve, knew she was gambling.
The Gladstone Park mother was reportedly playing the pokies at The Brook hotel in Point Cook on Wednesday and had left her son, Easton, in a Holden Barina outside.
At 3.15pm when he was pulled unresponsive from the vehicle it was 33C outside.
Easton’s heartbroken father has kept a bedside vigil by his little boy at Royal Children’s Hospital.
One of the Millars’ neighbours, who asked not to be named, said he had spoken with Mr Millar yesterday.
“As soon as I saw the look on Steve’s face, I was nearly going to cry myself,” the neighbour said.
“It does, it breaks your heart because you could see he is just the shell of a person now.
“It just breaks you.”
The neighbour said he believed Ms Millar had been stopped from visiting both the hospital and the family’s Gladstone Park home.
“It was a real shock — no one even knew she was gambling,” the neighbour said.
“He (Steve) really is (distraught). He doesn’t know if Easton does come good, how good?
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“These are some of the things that are going through his mind. And then of course, you know, — ‘how come I didn’t know’?”
The neighbour described Easton as “a lovely little kid” and said he was always happy and well-loved.
“I just can’t comprehend it,” he said. “This is like a lightning bolt out of the blue — it’s shocked everybody, really.
“It’s a real shame because he’s just the average run-of-the-mill tradie that just goes and does his job. I was over there (the home) today with him and he’s just distraught.