Sydney mum who left kids in hot car says ‘it’s a lesson’

A woman who left two young children alone in a car in Sydney’s west has wiped away tears as she described it as a lesson for everyone. 

Pauline Dunbar, 24, pleaded guilty to leaving the children, aged two and six months, in the locked Subaru Impreza with a window lowered slightly in December.

Police say she walked 200 metres to collect another child from a Penrith school and was gone for at least 10 minutes.

In the time she was away a passer-by heard one of the children screaming for several of those minutes.

As she called triple zero, Dunbar returned.

In sentencing her today, Magistrate Carl Milovanovich noted the death of a 22-month-old who was left in a hot car at Chester Hill on Sunday.

“You’ve got to find other ways to do it,” he said.

Outside court an emotional Dunbar told Nine News she didn’t want to hurt anyone.

“It’s a lesson, please don’t leave…kids in the car, it’s really dangerous. Anyway, thanks to God everything is okay.”