Judge rips into mom who abandoned four kids to go on cruise
A Florida mother sobbed as she faced a judge who shamed her for allegedly abandoning her four young children so she could go on a multi-day cruise.
Nathalie Belizaire, 29, is accused of leaving the youngsters – including a newborn – alone in her North Miami Beach home while she took a trip to the Bahamas on Friday.
On Tuesday, Belizaire appeared before Judge Mindy Glazer, who was shocked while reading out the allegations in court.
The mother used her orange jumpsuit to wipe away her tears as Judge Glazer could be heard saying, ‘We are just grateful nothing happened to these kids.’
‘Who leaves four little kids alone?’ asked the astonished judge. The mother’s attorney tried to explain that it was just an allegation as of now, but Glazer pointed out that police ‘arrested her disembarking from the cruise ship.’
Belizaire was arrested Monday as she was met off the Carnival Conquest by officers with the North Miami Beach Police Department, who said one of her children’s fathers reported the siblings had been left on their own.
Police said the father of Belizaire’s two-month-old became concerned when he saw the mother post on social media about her cruise vacation, and she told him all four youngsters were with their great-grandmother.
Four children found alone in bathroom
According to Belizaire’s arrest report, the father arrived at her apartment on Saturday night and said he could see a TV was on and the children were talking inside, but there was no sign of the mother.
First responders broke into Belizaire’s home to find ‘all four minor children inside without adult supervision,’ per the document.
Police said the four children were all found ‘hiding together in the bathroom.’
Authorities have not revealed the ages of all of Belizaire’s children, but said one was two months old and another was two years old.
Following her arrest, Belizaire’s attorney said she denied the allegations against her, telling NBC6: ‘Of course she (denies the charges)…. One baby, the baby was born in July of this year. Who leaves a baby alone like that?’
Police alleged that although Belizaire had made arrangements with her children’s great-grandmother to take them, the relative told investigators that Belizaire never showed up with the kids before leaving for her cruise.
Belizaire also allegedly texted her brother instructing him to check on her children over the weekend.
Belizaire’s arrest this week is not her first brush with the law. In January last year, she was arrested for allegedly pepper-spraying a neighbor in the face.
Judge rebukes mom over neglect allegations
In that case, police accused Belizaire of attacking her neighbor over allegations that she had harassed Belizaire’s daughter.
The two women got into a verbal altercation before Belizaire allegedly went to her apartment and retrieved a can of pepper spray, before unloading it in the neighbor’s eyes.
Belizaire was charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. The status of that case is unclear.
When she was arrested for allegedly abandoning her children, Belizaire was reportedly initially taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection.
She was then handed over to local police, and she is being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami. Belizaire is now facing four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.
At her first court appearance, officials said Belizaire declined to provide a statement to investigators and invoked her right to remain silent.
Belizaire’s bond was set at $10,000, as a judge admonished her for allegedly abandoning the children.
‘You cannot make this up. It says she went on a cruise and left her children home alone,’ Glazer said during the hearing, per NBC6.
‘These poor kids, four of them, were home alone for three days… I’m just grateful nothing worse happened to these kids.’
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Judge rips into mom who abandoned four kids to go on cruise
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