Cocaine on Moray baby's bottle didn't cause its death
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Small traces of cocaine were found on a bottle belonging to a baby from Moray who had died.
A 29-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court today.
Subsequent expert opinion was that the cause of death could not be linked to the presence of cocaine.
However, the couple admitted a charge of allowing the baby to indirectly ingest controlled drugs.
They also pleaded guilty to neglecting the baby by recklessly consuming drugs in its presence.
Fiscal depute Robert Weir told the court that the baby was found to be dead on February 9, 2021 after the woman called an ambulance.
A post mortem revealed no physical injuries.
However a small amount of cocaine and its metabolites were found in its system.
The cause of death was certified as 'sudden death in infancy with cocaine exposure'.
Mr Weir said: "They both admitted to having consumed cocaine the night before and they provided urine samples to police."
Cocaine and cannabinoids were found in both samples.
The man was represented by Elgin solicitor Stephen Carty and the woman by Edward Torgowski KC.
Both defence lawyers asked Sheriff Ian Cruickshank to defer passing any sentence until social workers had prepared background reports on the defendants.
Sheriff Cruickshank agreed and called for a restriction of liberty order assessment.
The two defendants will have to return to court on November 6. Their bail was continued until that date.
