According to YorkshireLive, 33-year-old Wendy Hall left her seven-year-old son, Malakye, “home alone” on the evening of August 11, 2020. The mom reportedly left the house to go see her partner, while Malakye, locked in the house, was left with Hall’s cell phone as entertainment.
The house that Malakye was abandoned in is said to have been completely dark at the time, as neither the electricity nor the gas was running.
At some point in the evening, Malakye got out of the locked house—it was then that he was involved in a fatal accident. As BBC News reported at the time, the child was hit by a 29-year-old driver on Manchester Road who was arrested “at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.” Malakye, meanwhile, was gravely injured in the collision. He was taken to Bradford Royal Infirmary for treatment, but his injuries proved fatal.
Police found Hall’s phone in Malakye’s possession at the time of the accident, per YorkshireLive. They soon discovered the dark house, the door to which had been left open.
Prosecutor Abigail Langford told YorkshireLive that, the day after the incident, Hall admitted she had left Malakye home. “She told officers she had left the door to the premises locked so that Malakye could not go out,” said Langford. “She said she did not think Malakye could use the bolt on the back door.”
The home reportedly did not have electricity or gas because Hall and her son had recently moved out—they had returned, however, to collect some possessions they had left behind. Hall was planning on bringing Malakye along to her partner’s house, but the seven-year-old child reportedly decided he did not want to go—a request that Hall agreed to.
“The Crown [says] this was a deliberate disregard for the welfare of Malakye,” added Langford. “A deliberate decision to leave him in a house which had no electricity or gas.”
According to the United Kingdom’s Sentencing Council, those convicted of child cruelty—including neglect, abandonment, and failure to protect—can receive a maximum of ten years in prison.
In the face of her charges, Hall pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years’ jail time, plus an additional eighteen months on other charges.
According to Hall’s solicitor advocate Saf Salam, the mom faces mental health issues that may have contributed to her poor judgment. Hall had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had struggled with anxiety and depression for years, reported the Telegraph & Argus.
Newsweek has reached out to both the West Yorkshire Police and Langford for further comment.
