TWO people have appeared in court on child cruelty charges after permitting a boy to drive a Land Rover Discovery in Dungannon, with one adult allegedly intoxicated at the time.
A male aged in his fifties and female in her forties appeared by video-link from police custody, jointly charged with wilfully exposing a child in a manner causing unnecessary suffering or injury to health, permitting driving without a licence or insurance, obstructing police and using disorderly behaviour.
The male is further accused of being drunk in charge of a vehicle during the incident which occurred on January 29 in the Newell Road area of Dungannon.
A police officer familiar with the facts of the case told Enniskillen Magistrates Court the charges could be connected. Bail was not opposed although cash sureties of £300 each were sought to assure both defendants return to court.
While the circumstances surrounding the charges weren’t disclosed during the short hearing, offending allegedly occurred the day after a man was sentenced at Dungannon Crown Court for allowing two boys aged 6 and 8 to drive an HGV in the M1 Motoring, which he filmed and posted online.
Meanwhile District Judge Alana McSorley remanded the pair in the latest case on £200 bail each, along with the cash sureties, to appear before Dungannon Magistrates Court on February 24.