Driver injected heroin with child in the car (From Daily Echo)

Driver injected heroin with child in the car

5:00pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in News

A MAN injected himself with heroin in a car at the side of a Southampton road while a toddler sat screaming in the back seat, a court heard.

Passers-by were so concerned for the crying child that they called police, who found a needle lying on the seat next to Jaroslaw Florczak when they arrived at his vehicle in Chapel Road.

But the 32-year-old builder was spared a jail sentence for child neglect, after Southampton Magistrates’ Court heard he had dabbled with the class A drug while depressed after being ripped off for £20,000 in an investment con.

Florczak, of Cobbett Road, Southampton, was arrested by officers who were called to the street on September 22 last year.

Police found him in the driver’s seat with the engine running, while another man was in the front passenger seat and the distressed toddler was in the back.

At the police station Florczak gave a negative breath test, but then refused to allow blood to be taken for more detailed analysis.

Florczak admitted the charge and had already pleaded guilty to offences of child neglect and possession of cannabis.

Defence solicitor Michael McGoldrick told the court his client had turned to heroin to help cope with depression after being forced to borrow £20,000 to repay the money he had lost.

Florczak was fined £750 for the child neglect, and disqualified him from driving for six months for failing to provide a specimen, as well as fining him a further £350 and ordering him to pay £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.