Brisbane man, 37, intends to fight charge he left son, 4, in car during extreme heatwave
A MAN who allegedly left his four-year-old son in a hot car at a Brisbane shopping centre car park will fight a charge laid against him.
A MAN who allegedly left his four-year-old son in a hot car at an inner-Brisbane shopping centre car park at the weekend has told a court he will fight a charge laid against him.
Fellow shoppers noticed the boy asleep in the car, which was parked in an underground car park, as temperatures in Brisbane climbed towards 37.6C on Sunday.
The boy was rescued from the car via an unlocked door and police were called.
The four-year-old was taken to Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital as a precautionary measure.
Police charged his 37-year-old father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, with leaving a child under 12 unattended.
But in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty.
The accused father faced court holding a pair of child’s shoes belonging to a young boy sitting in the back of the room.
He asked for the trial to be expedited so he could “get back to Canada to my other children”.
The matter will was adjourned until February 22.
He remains on bail.
The boy was allegedly left in the car despite repeated warnings from emergency services last week about the dangers of doing so, as an extreme heatwave hit Queensland and New South Wales, along with northern parts of Victoria and South Australia.