Father left Amazon Alexa to 'look after' girl, 5, whilst he went to pub with girlfriend

A father has been convicted of child neglect after he left an Amazon Alexa app "in charge" of his five-year-old daughter.

A court has heard how the 27-year-old left the child whilst he went to the pub with a new girlfriend.

He is said to have told police that he had "willingly left his daughter at home" at 8pm because he could see her via the Amazon Alexa camera as he sat in the pub.

The man was only discovered for the neglect after he was arrested for strangling his new partner at the end of their drinking session.

Police were called to investigate - and he admitted leaving his daughter in his partner's home in the market town of Builth Wells, Powys, with her Alexa at her bedside.

Prosecutor Stephen Davies said the dad and his new partner had known each other for around seven months when the pair went out to the pub together on a Saturday night in August last year.

Mr Davies said he was meant to be in charge caring for his daughter - but instead "went to a string of pubs" in the town.

He added: “The female had been drinking on the day and he was with her. She went out about 8pm as did he. The child was left in the flat.

“They went to a number of pubs and she says she can’t remember anything until he was strangling her. She doesn’t recall how she got home.

“The police were called and marks were noticed on her neck. She said the child had been left in the house for short a period of time.”

A neighbour had been alerted by screaming in the garden at around 2am.

Mr Davies said: “A male was running after her. She heard the female say ‘Get off me, get out of my house’ and she called 999."

PC Phillip Coombs arrived at 2.10am to find the pair were arguing and they "had to be separated".

“When he was later interviewed he stated he had grabbed the victim by the throat; he told her to shut up and that she needed to calm down," Mr Davies added.

“He said he’d left his daughter at home, but had an Alexa camera app on his phone to monitor her snoring.”

Gareth Walters, defending, said: “He is a young man of previous good character, who has entered guilty pleas to serious offences."

The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his child, admitted intentional strangulation of his partner and child neglect.

The court ordered he cannot contact the female victim and is allowed only supervised contact with his daughter.

He will be sentenced next month.

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