Publicans hailed as 'heroes' for ditching pokies after finding crying toddler
The New Zealand couple who discovered a crying toddler outside their pub, while the child’s mother played the pokies inside have been hailed heroes after taking a drastic measure to ensure it would never happen again.
Glen Dick and Lana Turnbull vowed to remove all seven poker machines from the Rawene Masonic Hotel after making the disturbing discovery over the weekend.
Mr Dick told Yahoo7 News the incident was the final straw and that he and his partner would not have been able to sleep at night knowing an infant could be put in such danger again.
“I take the capsule inside and ask this young girl if this baby is hers and she replied with ‘Yes, but my car isn’t here’,” Mr Dick recalled.
“I couldn’t believe her response, she said ‘ohh but I still have money in the machine’, I just pushed the collect button and said ‘no you don’t, take your child and leave’.”
After some ‘not so nice words’ the hotelier sent the young mother on her way and made the decision then and there that he would no longer run a gaming venue.
After sharing his story, thousands of social media users praised Mr Dick for not choosing profit over moral values.
“Well done on taking a moral stand when the easy option would have been to keep the pokies there and continue getting revenue off them,” one Facebook user wrote.
“They may have just saved this baby’s life from been taken (sic),” one woman wrote.
“You are heroes to your community, well done, a personal sacrifice of real cost to you for the betterment of where you live,” another added.
“What a fabulous decision. I just wish some of our local hotels here in Australia would take the same stance,” another said..
Others however suggested the young mother may have benefited from further discussion about what had taken place.
“Great that the gaming machines are going… perhaps a little more compassion for this girl’s addiction… cup of coffee and chat about baby care,” one woman wrote.
“Good on you! But you should have called the police/community services also. God only knows what sort of life that child will have,” another added.
“Thumbs up for the landlord and his conscious decision to do this… I’d report her to police for child endangerment as well,” another said.
If you or someone you know is being affected by gambling addiction, help is available on 1800 858 858 or at Gambling Help Online.
