Meth, cocaine among 15 drugs in toddler's system after mother found passed out

A hair sample from a 2-year-old detected 15 drugs in the boy’s system, including methamphetamine, cocaine and ketamine.

Methamphetamine was also found in the toddler’s urine sample.

Days earlier, the toddler’s mother was found unresponsive in a Waikato Airbnb, surrounded by “multiple” drugs and drug-use utensils.

Oranga Tamariki staff later took the boy to Waikato Hospital, where a hair sample tested positive for a litany of drugs, including MDMA, oxycodone, diazepam, nordiazepam and norketamine.

His mother was too intoxicated to be interviewed by police at the time of the incident in February 2024.

Court documents stated that, as assessed in January 2025, the child was functioning “as a normal child of his age should”.

This week, the mother, in her 20s, appeared in Hamilton District Court for sentencing on a charge of ill-treatment of a child for exposing him to controlled drugs.

Her counsel Philip Morgan, KC, told Judge Arthur Tompkins that his client had overcome her drug addiction.

He urged the judge not to impose a further punishment, arguing she had already spent six days in custody, 10 months on electronically monitored bail and a further 10 months on standard bail.

For legal reasons, NZME is unable to report the woman’s name.

The court heard that before the offending, she moved frequently with the child and her partner.

About February 13, 2024, a report of concern was lodged with Oranga Tamariki about the victim and his exposure to an “extensive array of illicit drugs and possible neglect”.

When the informant visited the woman, she was high on drugs and the “victim had locked himself in a garage”, court documents stated.

“He was found with dirty hands and knees from being left for some time crawling around the floor.

“At this time the defendant consumed more drugs and attended to her partner rather than to the victim.”

The informant noticed “multiple” illicit drugs and drug-use utensils scattered around the living area within easy reach of the victim.

Later that month, the woman was found unresponsive in the Airbnb, and while there was a cot, the child was not there.

Police and an ambulance were called.

The child was located two days later, and four days after that was taken to Waikato Hospital, where he had his hair tested.

Court documents do not state where the child was for the two days and it was not discussed in court.

Four centimetres of a 6cm hair sample were tested and 15 drugs were found.

The growth period corresponded to exposure or ingestion from October to February.

The presence of the drugs was attributed to factors including environmental exposure, close contact with his mother, who was using drugs, and direct ingestion.

The woman was sentenced in Hamilton District Court.

Morgan said his client pleaded guilty in November last year and initially appeared in court for sentencing in March.

However, while she had made progress with her rehabilitation by then, Judge Tompkins wanted to give her more time to “walk the walk as well as talk the talk”, adjourning her sentencing.

“Quite a lot has happened since,” Morgan told the judge.

“She has addressed over a period of two years her drug addiction and been, I guess, surprisingly successful.

“She has reunited with her family, despite what has happened in the past and it’s largely due to her parents.

“She has the support of them both and they are astonished and delighted by what has occurred over the past two years.”

In his sentencing submissions, Morgan said the last two years had been “tough” for his client, with bail conditions so strict at one point that she couldn’t go for a walk, and had to seek a variation of her conditions to attend a wedding.

“It’s not a case of imprisonment.

“She has already done the equivalent of home detention with 10 months of electronically monitored bail and community detention with existing terms of bail and hence that the appropriate sentence is community work,” he submitted, adding that a term of supervision would also help.

Judge Tompkins agreed with Morgan’s submissions, which were largely supported by police.

The judge noted the woman’s father’s affidavit, in which he said he’d watched “an absolute transformation” occur.

“What I witnessed was an absolute transformation of my daughter post-arrest from a drug addicted individual in an unhealthy state to a fit, healthy, drug-free [woman],” his affidavit read.

“I strongly believe the intervention of an arrest was the best thing that could have ever happened to [daughter].”

Judge Tompkins sentenced the woman to nine months’ supervision.

“I hope, in the nicest possible way, that I never see you again,” he told the woman.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.