Two childcare workers have escaped jail time after leaving a toddler on a bus for more than five hours in the Central Queensland heat.
Tara Alyce Steers, 31, and Bianca Maree Reynolds, 32, were each given close to three-year sentences, which were wholly suspended, after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm.
The three-year-old girl was picked up from her Gracemere house in Rockhampton on May 4 last year and left on the bus when it arrived at the centre after 9am.
Another worker discovered her close to 3pm when preparing for an afternoon run.
Judge Michael Rackmann criticised the two workers for conducting no checks before leaving the girl.
“This was not a case of a careless check, it was a case in which no check was done at all,” Rackmann said.
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“Nothing of course will ever take away the hurt and pain felt by the family as a result of the events of the day.”
The court heard Reynolds falsely signed her in for the day when she was left on the bus.
The girl’s parents told 9News they had to live with the effects every day.
“You can’t leave the lounge room without her going, ‘Where are you going? Don’t leave me behind’ because she thinks she’s going to get left behind,” the parent said.
The court was told the girl and her family have been left with emotional scars and the workers have post traumatic stress disorder.
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