A father lost custody of his daughter due to using an Alexa device as a babysitter while he was at a bar.

Amazon's voice service device, which operates on the cloud, is useful for a variety of tasks such as creating to-do lists and setting alarms.

Child care is not among its intended uses.

However, the man in question used the Alexa phone app to monitor his five-year-old daughter while leaving her unattended.

A 30-year-old man, whose identity is confidential due to legal reasons, appeared in court this week. It was revealed that on August 13th of last year, he intentionally left his daughter at home and went out drinking, starting at 8 PM.

The authorities became aware of the situation in the early morning of the following day when the man choked his new girlfriend and neighbors called the police after hearing screams from their garden.

Upon the police's arrival, he admitted to leaving his daughter unattended at home with only Alexa for supervision, as he visited multiple bars in the town of Powys.

The prosecutor, Stephen Davies, informed the court that the defendant and his new girlfriend were acquaintances for approximately seven months before the incident took place.

He said: "The female had been drinking on the day and he was with her. She went out at about 8 pm as did he. The child was left in the flat."

"They went to a number of pubs and she says she can't remember anything until he was strangling her. She doesn't recall how she got home."

"The police were called and marks were noticed on her neck. She said the child had been left in the house for a short period of time."

PC Phillip Coombs arrived at the man's residence at 2:10 AM and found him and his new partner engaged in a struggle.

"When he was later interviewed he stated he had grabbed the victim by the throat. He told her to shut up and that she needed to calm down," Davies added.

"He said he'd left his daughter at home but had an Alexa camera app on his phone to monitor her snoring."

Defending, Gareth Walters said: "He is a young man of previous good character, who has entered guilty pleas to serious offences.

"The consequences of this will be felt by him for a long time. His daughter has been taken away and it was largely him who cared for her.

"He felt he was keeping an eye on his daughter but he realises you can't do that remotely."

"There was some effort by him to keep an eye on her but he knows the standards fell below what is expected of a parent."

The man admitted to intentionally choking and neglecting a child at Llandrindod Wells Magistrates' Court in Wales and received a 12-month suspended sentence for two years.