A three year old child who was attacked by a toddler of the same age, while alone in a car has been granted the right to compensation. The boy from the Wirral, Merseyside, in the United Kingdom needed stitches, after being hit eleven times with a car jack; such force was used that even the windscreen was cracked.
The incident occurred two years ago and the boys mother has been fighting for compensation ever since. Twice, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority have refused to pay, on the grounds that a toddler could not be found guilty of a violent crime.
Now the tribunals Service has ruled in their favour, although the amount of compensation to be paid has not been decided. The attacker cannot be prosecuted because he is under ten years old and is said to be in the care of social services. Payment of compensation will be made by the taxpayer and is said to be a gesture of public sympathy.
How was such a young child left alone to pick up a car jack and seriously injure another child with it, an adult should have been available to prevent such a terrible incident from occurring.
This particular story highlights the issue of whether children should be left unsupervised in a car. Parents are responsible for their children’s safety. It isn’t acceptable to leave young children alone in your home so why is your car any different.
Young children cannot be held responsible for their actions and need protecting by their parents, this is not possible if left alone in our vehicles so we can get errands done quicker.
Even if potential weapons are not accessible, cars are dangerous machines that are responsible for many fatalities in this world. What if the brakes failed or your vehicle was stolen, how can we protect our children if we are not there. Obviously sometimes awful things happen that we cannot control, but small children should be supervised at all times wherever they may be and leaving a young child alone is neglect.
If parents are found to have left their children alone in a car the appropriate authorities should become involved and possibly criminal charges brought against them.
The world is a dangerous place and our children need us to go out of our way and do all that is physically possible to be sure they come to no harm.