Some parents say, "The kids going to do it anyway, might as well let him learn how to do it safely at home," but I'm not sure that applies to smoking . . . especially when the kid in question is only 3! Mom, Kelly Marie Pocock, has plead guilty to letting the toddler smoke, but here's the best line from the court proceedings in Londa: ". . . the boy, at the age of three, knows what to do with a lighter and cigarette." Likely she only admitted to it because of front of hers captured the whole thing on a cell phone video and showed it to social workers, who were not amused. Mom claims she was "shocked" to find out that the tot knew how to "light one up" but it sounds like the judge in the case wasn't buying any of it. Here's more from the BBC News:
A three-year-old boy lit a cigarette butt and smoked it in front of his mother, a court has been told. It was filmed on a mobile and passed to social services by Kelly Marie Pocock's friend, Merthyr Crown Court heard. The friend earlier spotted him smoking a cigarette and said it looked like he had been "smoking for many years".
The judge said it was an appalling case and Pocock, from Merthyr Vale, was sentenced to 40 weeks suspended for two years after admitting child cruelty. But Judge John Curran said he did not jail Pocock because of her "considerable efforts" since the incident. Prosecutor Jonathan Rees told the court Pocock's friend Natasha Dudley filmed the events after visiting her home just after Christmas 2007.
Mr Rees said Ms Dudley had gone looking for the boy after he had been missing for 30 minutes. She found him underneath the bed with some cigarettes," said Mr Rees. "He was actually smoking one at the time and Ms Dudley said it looked like he had been smoking for many years." The court heard that when the boy was taken downstairs he went into the living room where he picked up a cigarette butt from an ashtray and smoked it. Mr Rees said at this point, Pocock was having a telephone conversation so Ms Dudley decided to film the boy, such was her concern.
"The video demonstrates the boy placing a cigarette into his mouth, lighting it with a lighter and sucking, drawing smoke clearly into the lungs and he seems to do it with some accomplishment," said Mr Rees. "It doesn't cause him any discomfort. He is sat on a chair close to the mother, who is talking on the phone. "It is clear that the boy, at the age of three, knows what to do with a lighter and cigarette."
Read more...
Posts
