The mum of a 10-week-old baby girl who died after ingesting cocaine has been found guilty of causing “serious harm” to her infant daughter.
A jury found that Shareen Mains had exposed her baby to the drug and caused her to ingest it after baby bottles in her house were found to have traces of cocaine in them.
The court heard Mains woke up at 4am to feed the baby and went back to sleep before waking up the next morning on September 8, 2019 to find the baby was not breathing and unresponsive. The 36-year-old, now of Farquhar Road, Port Glasgow, was found guilty on three counts of possessing drugs and one of causing suffering or injury to her baby.
Cops investigating the death of the child found cannabis and a drug called phenazepam as well as cocaine in the house, Depute Prosecutor Fiscal Kirstin Brierley told the court.
The jury also heard how baby bottles seized from the house were found with traces of cocaine when tested.
Ms Brierley said: "We were told from the first witness, a paramedic, that the mum had said that she had got up at around 4am to feed the baby and went back to sleep. But she awoke to find the baby was not breathing and unresponsive.
"A next door neighbour, who was a nurse, heard shouts of help at around 10.20am on September 8, 2019. She came in to help but in her experience the baby had the appearance that she was either already dead or close to the end of life.
"The baby was lifeless but the witness told the court she gave CPR and called an ambulance." Giving evidence in court one of the paramedics who responded to the 999 call told how she arrived to find Mains and her neighbour, the nurse, at the scene - with Mains “in a state”.
Medics tried to perform CPR on the tot in the back of an ambulance but to no avail. Speaking during the trial the paramedic said: “The baby had no pulse and wasn't breathing.
"I had asked mum for times of events to get a better picture of what had happened. She got up around 4am to feed the baby and went back to sleep. When she woke up the baby was not breathing or moving."
The child was pronounced dead a short while after arriving at Inverclyde Royal. The court also heard evidence from the baby’s father who said she 'was perfectly healthy' when he last saw her the day before.
Forensic investigators found five baby bottles in the house, which were seized and taken as evidence. Three were found in the main bedroom and two from the kitchen. Four of the bottles, two from the kitchen worktop and two from the bedroom, all containing clear liquid were found to test positive for cocaine. One bottle with white liquid was found in the bedroom but later tested negative.
Several items were seized at that time, including burnt foil and polythene wraps - which were found within a plastic bag on a door handle. A plastic bottle with a small “self-made hole” and brown staining was also retrieved from a bag within the main bedroom of the property, described as a “bong” by a police witness.
Experts at the trial were unable to say for certain when the drug was ingested by the child but the 0.003 milligrams found in her body could not have been there for more than seven days. Ms Brierley added: "This is consistent to being exposed to cocaine, but there is no way of telling what were the peak levels."
The Prosecutor Fiscal also pointed to the “expert” handling by an experienced police officer three years later in 2022 to remove the liquid which was found to have an orange tinge. This part of the evidence was disputed by the defence advocate Alistair Sloanin his closing speeches.
He argued that there could be contamination because the liquid now tinged orange was contaminated when moved from a vial to containers in the five years that followed. Mr Sloan said: "This is a tragic and difficult case when on the September 8, 2019, Mrs Mains woke to found her daughter lifeless having last seen her alive at 4am."
He argued that the crown had not proved Shareen Mains's guilt beyond all reasonable doubt that the cocaine was in the possession and control of the defendant. Mr Sloan added: "The bottle containing the white liquid that had been ingested was negative for cocaine."
Sheriff Anthony McGeehan instructed the jury that Ms Mains had accepted possession of cannabis and phenazepam during the trial. He explained that if jurors accepted the crown's evidence that the accused was in possession of cocaine charge then a guilty verdict would follow for the charge of exposing her baby to harm and ingesting the cocaine.
The jury later returned a verdict of guilty to all four charges, rejecting the defence's argument. Mains was found guilty of possessing Class B cannabis, Class C phenazepam, as well as Class A drug cocaine.
She was also found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering or injury to health and did consume or allow others to consume controlled drugs while her 10-week-old baby was present and did expose her to controlled drugs, namely cocaine, whereby she ingested cocaine. Mains will be sentenced in January next year.