Photo: Facebook
In a statement, police said they would not be pressing charges.
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Mar 23, 2023
A woman in Australia has recently come under fire after a video she posted on Facebook sparked outrage among parents all over the world and prompted a visit from the police.
The young mom posted a video of herself with her 10-month-old child earlier this March 2023, while she was hanging out with her friends and forced her baby to smoke from a vape.
The woman’s family claimed that it was a ‘stupid mistake’ and that she was ‘trying her best.’
After the video went viral online and the news and media coverage in Australia got a hold of the story, 7NEWS was able to have an anonymous conversation with the woman’s family members who spoke about the incident that occurred in Kempsey, New South Wales.
“It’s honestly putrid like I will not say that it’s not because it is,” the infant's aunt said. “I removed my nephew from that situation.”
Another family member said that it “made me sick” but that the young mom was simply “trying her best. It was just a stupid mistake that she made with a bunch of friends.”
Unfortunately, that stupid mistake could be very costly to the growing baby’s health. According to the Sydney Children’s Hospital, symptoms could be as mild as coughing, severe coughing fits and vomiting, or as severe as loss of consciousness and seizures.
They also reported that “calls to the NSW Poisons Information Centre (NSWPIC) for accidental vaping exposures in toddlers have more than tripled in the past year.”
Health experts have noted the increase in reports and have issued grave warnings to parents to keep their children away from harmful substances. “We know vaping inhalant already has the potential to be a highly toxic substance in adults so the concern is even more real for toddlers and young children,” Medical Director of the NSWPIC, Dr. Darren Roberts said.
As a result of the shocking video, family members have reported that they were now targeted by a number of death threats. “There’s no need for the violence,” they said.
Police sparked even more outrage when they revealed they were not pressing charges.
The NSW police received reports to perform a welfare check of the home where the 10-month-old child resided and released the results of their investigation.
“Police have now spoken with the child’s family and — following [the] advice provided by medical professionals and other governmental agencies — no further police action will be taken,” the NSW police said in a statement.
The calls and cries for the poor child to be taken away from her mother were left unheard, while the mother seemed indifferent about what she had done and the harm in which she put her baby in the way. According to reports, she posted to Facebook defending herself from the criticisms she was facing.
“Every c--t got the hide to sit there and talk about me and my child, take a look in yas own backyard,” she wrote on Facebook. “You ain’t perfect either so keep that mouth going you ain’t scary, you’re nothing but bums.”
The opposition leader in NSW, Chris Minns, suggested that they may have to take a look at the laws surrounding this kind of thing and make them tougher.
“Obviously [it is] very troubling footage,” he said. “We’ll look at legislative change if it’s needed. This is abhorrent and shouldn’t happen.”
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.