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Boy, 5 stabbed by park syringe
A FIVE-year-old boy was stabbed by a discarded junkie's syringe as he played in a Sheffield park.
Shocked mum Kathryn Galloway rushed her son Kassius to Sheffield Children's Hospital where he was tested for Hepatitis B and other infections, including HIV.
She said today: "I've had to explain to my son what the needle was used for. I shouldn't have to explain about drug-taking to my five-year-old. The doctors were concerned for him because the wound drew blood. It's left quite a deep mark on his arm."
Kathryn, 32, of Fir Vale, was with Kassius at Nottingham Cliff Park in Burngreave when he found the needle while playing with his seven-year-old cousin Malachi.
She said: "My son likes to rummage around in the grass. He was playing with his bug collector, catching insects in the long grass on the edge of the park, when he found the syringe.
"Malachi tried to take the syringe off him, and as Kassius pulled away from him the needle stuck into his arm."
Kathryn said the grass at Nottingham Cliff had only been trimmed in the middle of the park, leaving the edges to become overgrown.
"It happens in all parks now - they only trim the inside of the grass and leave the edges long," she claimed.
"Nottingham Cliff Park is renowned for having a lot of trouble because it's used by drug addicts. All parks in the area should be cleaned properly, so children can play out."
Kathryn said her sister Susan Mate, Malachi's mum, called Sheffield Council's park services who inspected the area where Kassius found the needle and also found razor blades and shards of glass from broken bottles.
Kathryn added: "They also warned my sister not to let the boys climb the trees, because one of the drug addicts' habits is sticking needles on them.
"When we went to the Children's Hospital there was a little girl who had been playing in Weston Park, which is supposed to be nice, and she had stood on a piece of broken bottle."
David Hargate, Sheffield Council's parks and countryside manager, said: "I was very sorry to hear a young child has suffered a needle stick injury due to a discarded hypodermic needle.
"At the moment the site is inspected every week by gardeners who remove any litter, but we have arranged to meet up with the little boy's parent to visit the place where it happened so we can look at what can be done to make it safer.
"We will certainly look at the length of grass where the needle was left, to see if there's anything we can do to improve maintenance.
"Although this seems to be an isolated incident, I would urge anyone who finds a syringe or any drugs paraphernalia to contact the council's parks and countryside office so it can be removed and safely disposed of."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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