A 33-year-old woman, identified as Wendy Hall, has been imprisoned for the death of her seven-year-old son she left home alone to visit her boyfriend.
According to reports, Hall left her son, Malayke, in the their home in Lindley Road, Bradford, with no lights on and locked the door before heading out to see her partner on August 11 last year.
However, the child managed to unlock the door shortly after she left and wandered onto a busy road, where he was hit and killed by a taxi on Manchester Road around 10pm.
Malakye was holding his mom’s phone when he was run over and fatally killed by the taxi. When Police arrived the scene, they found the damaged phone in the boy’s possession, which led them to the house, which was in total darkness with the door open.
Thereafter, Hall was traced to her boyfriend’s house and taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary to identify her son’s body.
The Persecutor in charge of the case, Abigail Langford, said when Hall was interviewed the next day, she admitted to leaving her son home alone.
Miss Langford said: “She told officers she had left the door to the premises locked so that Malakye could not go out.”
She said she intended to take her son to her partner’s but the boy changed his mind about going.
“She said she did not think Malakye could use the bolt on the back door,” she added.
“The Crown say this was a deliberate disregard for the welfare of Malakye. A deliberate decision to leave him in a house which had no electricity or gas.”
The bereaved mother pleaded guilty to neglecting her child and was sentenced to three years in jail. She also received an additional 18 months in prison for other matters.
