TWO mothers admitted in court yesterday to wilfully abandoning their children.

Defendant Anjanie Ragoo, 40, of Claxton Bay was found liming at a bar.

Defendant Fea Brown, 30, of San Fernando, said she left her children home alone while she attended a baptism.

Both women were charged in unrelated cases with wilfully neglecting or exposing their children in a manner to cause them suffering or injury to their health.

The cases were heard before San Fernando Magistrate Indar Jagroo.

Police prosecutor Ramdeo Sookdeo said that last Saturday, a report was made at the St Margaret's police station that Ragoo had left her 10-year-old son unsupervised at home.

Police officers went to her St Margaret's, Claxton Bay home around 1.40 a.m. and found the boy home alone.

He was taken into police custody after being examined at the Couva Health Facility.

Enquiries were conducted and Ragoo was later spotted at a bar in Claxton Bay.

Sookdeo said the officers observed that she was staggering and smelt strongly of alcohol.

When asked about her son, Ragoo said, "Officers, he know where the key dey for the house."

Ragoo was charged by Constable Pitt.

Before the court yesterday. a male relative told the court the child was now staying with an aunt and that he (the father) did not live regularly with the mother, as he had to work.

During her court appearance, Ragoo complained of having stomach pains and headaches.

The magistrate remanded her into prison custody until next week. She is to undergo medical examinations and a probation officer report is also to be done during this time. in the other case, Brown also told the court that she left her 11-year-old son and five-year-old daughter home alone last Sunday.

At around 12.10 a.m. police officers received information and went to a wooden house in Mon Repos, San Fernando. Sookdeo said the house had no steps and the door was blocked by a piece of plywood.

When officers knocked on the wood, the elder child answered.

He told the police that it was only him and his sleeping sister in the house. The two children were taken to the Mon Repos police station. Brown came to the police station around 7.15 a.m. Sookdeo said, and she told the police, "I leave them children around 10.30 p.m. last night and went to a christening and when I come back home, I hear that the police gone with the children."

Brown was charged by Constable Seerattan of the Mon Repos police station.

Defence attorney Annalee Girwar said the event her client attended was ten minutes away and Brown had told the children to go and stay with an aunt.

"She knew it was not the most responsible thing to do. She should have ensured they went by her sister's home," the attorney said.

Girwar said the children's father lived abroad but assisted financially.

Both Ragoo and Brown were chastised by the magistrate who warned that their act was a serious offence for which they faced a maximum $5,000 fine or six months behind bars.

"In this world, we can't leave our children unattended, even for a minute," the magistrate said.

Brown was placed on a $3,000 bond to keep the peace for a year while Ragoo will return to court on August 21.