A member of the Abu Dhabi royal family passed out on a busy London street after a cocaine binge while looking after a young child, a court has heard.
Mahrah Al Nahyan, 32, had been taking the Class A drug before being found lying on the ground in west London next to an unconscious man, while the toddler played barefoot nearby next to a busy road.
Ms Al Nahyan, who is part of the Emirati royal family through marriage, admitted one charge of child neglect at Southwark Crown Court.
Incident details
Members of the public took care of the child as Ms Al Nahyan remained unconscious for around 30 minutes after being found on June 13. A video taken by a member of the public showed her slumped against railings with her head bowed and arms crossed, while an unconscious man lay on his back in a doorway beside her.
Rio Pahlavanpour, prosecuting, said passers-by “noticed the child was unattended, without shoes on the street with a scooter and members of the public intervened as he seemed to be in close proximity to moving traffic.”
Ms Al Nahyan was found to have drugs paraphernalia in her bags, but no illicit substances, the court heard.
Defence and sentencing
Stephen Vullo KC, defending, said Al Nahyan had not taken drugs on the day she was found, but was very tired having taken cocaine in the previous days. He added that she had shown “significant remorse and resolve to overcome her addiction”.
Mr Vullo said: “The immediate future is she intends to complete all of the steps of a three-month programme which will come to an end at the end of this month. Her plan after that is to rent a property in the Guildford area and become a day patient there, where she will attend Narcotics Anonymous. She made a grave mistake that day and she knows it.”
The judge, Mr Justice Johnson KC, said: “But for the intervention of strangers there was a serious risk they would be seriously injured or worse. They could have run away, become lost. They could have been taken or harmed by a stranger and could have become distressed seeing you and your friend unconscious in the street.”
Ms Al Nahyan was sentenced to a two-year community order with a rehabilitation requirement and fined a total of £6,114. She has been undergoing drug addiction treatment at the Priory clinic in Woking, Surrey, since the incident.
