Mum guilty of child cruelty after tragic death of daughter

Baby died as she partied with friend

- Rob Andrews

A BABY girl lay dead in her home ~ after her partying mum failed to raise the alarm until it was too late.

Natasha Birks had sole responsibility for Rhian Mahoney when she placed the five-month-old ona settee before cracking open a bottle of vodka and partying with a friend on the eve of her birthday.

But prosecutors say the 37-year-old failed to properly check on Rhian and did not notice her daughter had failed to wake for her feed in the middle of the night. The tot had already died by the time paramedics were alerted.