A schoolgirl was heard crying at 3am and shouting out “I want my daddy.”
She was said to be hugely distressed and was banging on the wall of a flat for well over half an hour.
The prosecution claimed that at the time, the father was at a party at a flat upstairs.
The father, 42, from Wrexham , had been convicted of abandoning his daughter, aged under 13, causing her unnecessary suffering, at the local magistrates’ court.
Appeal hearing
But he failed to clear his name when his appeal against conviction was rejected at Mold Crown Court.
His sentence – a community order with rehabilitation and 140 hours unpaid work, £600 costs and a £80 surcharge – remained unchanged.
Judge Geraint Walters, who sat on the appeal with two magistrates, said they were satisfied that the dad had thought he could pop to the
neighbour’s flat for a good drink but he missed his daughter’s distress and was unable to react to it.
The bench was quite satisfied that offence was made out and that the magistrates had come to the correct decision.
A neighbour who had been disturbed by the late night party told the court that it was “horrible” listening to the girl’s sobs.
'Hugely distressed'
She appeared to be hugely distressed, it went on for at least half an hour, she was constantly crying and calling out, she was banging on the wall and was heard to say time and time again “I want my daddy.”
The neighbour told how she called the police.
She had earlier seen a man she believed to be the dad at the party and heard his name being used.
Prosecuting barrister Anna Price told how officers arrived at the flat and found the defendant drunk and fully clothed in his own home.
He claimed that he had a couple of glasses of wine to drink but a breathtest showed that he had 119 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath, compared to the legal limit of 35 for a driver.
The dad said he had fallen asleep in front of the television and had not heard his daughter crying.
In evidence, he said that night in November of last year, he had three pints earlier while waiting to pick his daughter up.
At home they had a meal, he settled his daughter down, and she awoke at one stage after having a nightmare.
He re-assured her and she went back to bed, he did some work at home before having a couple of drinks and falling asleep in front of the television.
The dad said that he had not heard his daughter crying and screaming in the early hours and claimed it had not happened.
But the judge said the court unanimously accepted the evidence of a witness who had been concerned for the welfare of the child that she rang the police in the early hours.
The dad was not ordered to pay any additional costs for the appeal hearing.
see-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/distressed-girl-left-home-alone-11269194
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