Mum left four children including baby and toddler home alone to go on cruise
Four minors are now in foster care after their mother seemingly left them home alone, unsupervised, while she embarked on a short cruise.
Nathalie Belizaire, 29, was apprehended by the North Miami Beach police over the incident and now faces multiple charges of child neglect without great bodily harm.
Per NBC Miami, on Thursday, September 24, the father of Belizaire's youngest infant (who is just 2 months old) spotted a post on her WhatsApp Story depicting 'what appeared to be a cruise ticket purchase'.
He spoke to the mother-of-four shortly afterwards and during this conversation she confirmed that she'd be dropping off the kids with their great-grandmother.
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However, two nights later he paid her apartment a visit, leading to the discovery of a switched-on TV screen shining through the window blinds. Not only that, the children could be heard talking to each other too.
Local police and fire services were immediately contacted, who then forced their way into the property over fears for the kids' safety.
North Miami Beach officers claimed the children were 'hiding together in the bathroom' upon initial search.
Per NBC News, their great-grandmother went on to reveal that Belizaire promised to drop off the foursome 'because she was going out of town', but none of them ever arrived at her place.
Belizaire's brother allegedly received a text from his sister at 8pm local time on the Saturday, 'instructing him to check on her children'.
For a couple of days, the missing mother was uncontactable, while the ensuing police investigation found that she'd bought a 3-day ticket to the Bahamas onboard the Carnival Conquest cruise ship that would sail on Friday, September 25.
An arrest report reads: "[Belizaire] left all four minor children, including a two-month-old infant and a two-year-old child, inside the residence without adult supervision while the defendant travelled out of town aboard a Carnival Conquest cruise ship".
Monday, 28 September rolled around and this was when the authorities finally got their hands on Belizaire as she exited the sea vessel at Port Miami.
She was escorted into custody by US Customs and Border Protection before being released to North Miami Beach police; ultimately choosing not to provide a statement at the time.
The arrest report continued: "Based on the totality of the circumstances and evidence obtained during the investigation, sufficient probable cause existed to establish that the defendant failed to provide the necessary care and supervision for the four minor children, thereby exposing them to a substantial risk of harm".
Yesterday (29 September), the irresponsible parent appeared in bond court and was told to stay away from her kids.
Attending judge Mindy Glazer commented at the hearing: "You cannot make this up. It says she went on a cruise and left her children home alone. These poor kids, four of them, were home alone for three days... I'm just grateful nothing worse happened to these kids".
An attorney for Belizaire announced to the court that his charge denied all allegations.
"Of course she does. The baby was born in July of this year. Who leaves a baby alone like that?" was the judge's retort.
Topics: US News, Cruise Ship, Crime
Dan Seddon