Irish woman arrested in Spain suspected of leaving young child to go drinking

Gerard Couzens

A Irish woman has been arrested in Majorca, Spain on suspicion of abandoning her child during a drunken holiday.

The 45-year-old was held at a hotel in Manacor in the east of the island after leaving her five-year-old daughter alone to go out socialising.

Police said the mother drank all day and the little girl ended up being cared for by other tourists.

The woman continued drinking despite hotel staff opting to stop serving her alcohol, instead going to a supermarket opposite to buy beer.

A spokesperson for Spain’s National Police said: “We have arrested an Irish woman, aged 45, who was on holiday in Majorca for a crime of child abandonment.

“She left the youngster alone so she could drink alcohol. She began drinking the first day she arrived at a hotel in Manacor.

“She drank large amounts and consumed alcohol from the moment she got up to the moment she went to bed.

“She drank beer only and the little girl was cared for by the other tourists she had got to know in the same hotel who also had a little girl.

“Those holidaymakers ended up feeding her, putting sun cream on her and buying her arm bands for the pool as well as making sure she showered and was kept clean.

“Hotel staff stopped serving her, but she went to a supermarket opposite to buy beer she would consume there.”

The arrest was made last Tuesday after hotel guests alerted police. Following the mother's detention, the child's father was alerted and he travelled to Majorca.

The spokesperson added: “[The woman] was arrested after being located in her hotel room and finally opening the door in a state of obvious drunkenness.

“The child was taken to a specialist centre until the following day when her father, who was in Ireland, arrived to take charge of her.”

It was not clear on Sunday if the unnamed woman had yet appeared in court.

It is expected that Irish authorities will be informed of the case by their Spanish counterparts.