A TEENAGE girl has been convicted of harming a

ten-year-old boy who

suffered severe alcohol

poisoning after drinking whisky.

The 16-year-old girl, who lives in Hove but cannot be named for legal reasons, denied maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on the boy in August last year.

Brighton Youth Court heard the boy from Brighton was rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital by ambulance after drinking Jack Daniels and coke.

He was in a serious condition when he arrived unconscious at the hospital and tests showed he had drunk the equivalent of four times the legal drink-drive alcohol limit.

He was put on an intravenous drip and later transferred to the Royal Alexandra Children's

Hospital. He was discharged the following day and has suffered no lasting harm.

The boy told the court he was visiting a flat on the Whitehawk estate when the teenager offered him some coke. It was not until after he drunk it that she told him he had been drinking Jack Daniels as well.

The boy, who gave evidence in court behind a screen, denied

helping himself to the whisky while the teenager was out of the room having a cigarette. But she blamed the boy for drinking the alcohol and denied being drunk or encouraging him to drink alcohol.

She said when she returned to the living room the boy was lying on the floor but she thought it was a joke.

She said: "About ten minutes later I was getting a bit worried and I laid him on the sofa. He didn't wake up or anything. His eyes were rolling."

The court heard other people in the flat attempted to revive the boy before an ambulance was called.

Stipendiary magistrate Ann Arnold told the girl: "I am satisfied you gave him alcohol and encouraged him to drink it."

The case was adjourned to January 31 for reports and the girl was remanded on bail.

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