They had gone to dinner at a restaurant near the hotel where they were staying, leaving their six-month-old baby alone sleeping in the room when the little one began to cry. A witness raised the alarm and the National Police went to the accommodation, the H-10 Croma in the capital of the Costa del Sol, where they were able to enter the room and make sure that the little boy was okay. Near him, who was standing in the crib, there was a camera with which the parents monitored his movements through a mobile phone.
Shortly after, they requested the presence of the parents, a Dutch couple who were just over 5 minutes away on foot and who were detained and accused of possibly committing the crime of temporary abandonment of a minor.
The events occurred in November 2022, when both had to give a statement regarding the events, leaving the baby in the care of the grandparents, who also attended that dinner. Both were provisionally released. At first, the Criminal Court of Málaga issued a sentence sentencing them to six months in prison, given that the Prosecutor’s Office requested one year, although now the Provincial Court has released them without charge, as announced. South Journal.
The media reports that, at first, the child’s mother refused to testify at the police station, although during the trial the parents insisted that this practice is common in Holland, as well as that the minor was monitored through a mobile application and that, at just six months old, he did not know how to crawl or walk, so, in his opinion, it was unlikely that he would suffer an accident.
The sentence that acquitted them is also pronounced in this sense. In it, as has emerged, it is emphasized that this “lack of care” is not compatible with the crime of which they were accused, and that it constitutes a “recklessness” that could perhaps entail a moral reproach, not an act that would leave the baby in a “helpless situation.” Furthermore, he mentions the absence of intent on the part of the child’s parents, who left the baby alone for two hours, and addresses the fact that the minor’s young age made him unable to move freely, thus minimizing possible risks.