Baby was found face down in the water
Baby was found face down in the water
August 27 2009 at 11:53AM
- Names have been removed
Baby X, who was nine months old, fell out of a specially designed bath seat and was found face down in the water.
The inquest heard her mother Mommy X, 32, believed the bath seat would hold the baby securely as she used the computer in the next room to make a birthday card for her partner.
Baby X was declared dead at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital after drowning in a bath
But Baby X slipped out of the bath chair and drowned in water that was just over 6 inches deep.
Neither of Baby X’s parents, who live in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, was present at the inquest yesterday. They have had another child since the accident in June last year.
After the hearing Daddy X, a chef, explained: ’It was a tragic loss. We all miss her very much.
‘Knowing the inquest was happening today brought it all back again. That’s why we didn’t feel we could attend.’
In a statement read to Gloucester Coroner’s Court, Miss X said of her daughter: ’Daddy X and I were delighted parents and she meant the world to us.
‘We loved her and enjoyed caring and looking after her. Part of this was bathing her every day. She used to enjoy the bath.’
She said the bath seat, which had plastic suckers to attach it to the sides of the bath, was in regular use. She had left Baby X in it on several occasions and she was ‘fine’.
Recording an accident verdict, Gloucestershire coroner said the incident should be a warning to parents.
“This is not the first case I have dealt with where a child who was thought to have been in a safe position has been left unattended for a short period of time only for tragedy to strike.
“Parents would do well to remember that infants are unpredictable in their actions and must to be attended most if not all of the time.” – Daily Mail
Full story on www.iol.co.za
