A guardian who found two children alone at home left them unattended for five hours before reporting their mother to Police, Magistrates' Court head yesterday.

Marco Eugene Bowen, 29, of Pembroke received a conditional discharge for leaving the children at home alone.

But the 33-year-old mother of the two, Dollene Melvina Simmons, pleaded not guilty to charges she wilfully neglected as a parent her ten- and 6-year-old children by leaving them without supervision on the evening of October 8.

She was bound over for trial on February 9, 1998.

Crown Counsel Larry Mussenden said that Bowen, returned to his Pembroke home around 8.30 p.m. and found the children alone.

He nevertheless went out with "the boys'', only to return home around 1.30 a.m., October 9, and found the children still unattended. Becoming frustrated, he took the children to the Hamilton Police station to report the incident.

Both Bowen and Simmons were subsequently charged a few days later under the Protection of Children Act, 1943.

Bowen asked the court to take into consideration the fact that he was not the father of the children, and that he had been the one to report the incident to Police.

Mr. Francis agreed, conceding a conditional discharge should adequately deal with the charge.

Similar charges under the Act are punishable by a fine of $840, 18 months in prison, or both.