A SPANISH father has been arrested on the southern Costa Blanca for leaving his five-year-old daughter home alone when he went for a night out at a karaoke.
One of his neighbours called the police at around 03.25 on Friday morning after hearing the little girl screaming and sobbing.
Officers climbed the fence into the terrace of the house in Guardamar del Segura (Alicante province) and, the second the little girl saw the police, she ran to them and hugged them.
Police inspected the house to see whether anything untoward had happened to the girl's father, with whom she lives alone, but they did not see any sign of him or his car near or in the building.
A search party led to his car being located outside a bar where a karaoke was being held.
Given that the father, aged 35, was completely sober and in no way impaired in his ability to look after his daughter, so after he was arrested and had testified before a duty judge, he was released with charges pending trial.
Police and the judge said the little girl had 'already been through enough distress' without adding to it by keeping her father in custody and placing her in temporary care.
They allowed him to go home to stay with her until the court case.
