Toddler drowns after being pulled from backyard pool in Macquarie Fields

UPDATE: THE family of two-year-old Vera Peacock are still coming to terms with the toddler’s untimely and tragic death after she drowned in a backyard pool in Macquarie Fields on New Year’s Day. Police are now investigating the possibility the pool fence’s gate may have been left accidentally open.

Police cordon off the house. Picture: Adam Yip

• DROWNING VICTIM’S MUM HAS RUN OUT OF TEARS
• SECOND TWIN PULLED FROM BACK YARD POOL DIES

A New Zealand family is in mourning after a two-year-old girl drowned in their backyard pool in Macquarie Fields.

Vera Peacock’s uncle, who only wished to be known as Jason, said the entire family was devastated.

“She is everything to us and though she’s gone now she will forever be in our hearts and minds,” he said in an emotional tribute to little Vera.

The two-year-old drowned after wandering into the backyard pool. Picture: Supplied

The pool at Macquarie Fields where a toddler drowned. Picture: Jenny Evans

“We love you always.”

Macquarie Fields acting Superintendent Mark Brett said Vera was missing for some minutes before she was found unconscious in the pool just after 6pm on New Year’s Day.

He said the below-ground pool was fenced and police were investigating if the gate had been left open.

“We are unsure how the child got into the pool area, there are a number of varying reports. At this stage the child was not seen for a while and we need to work our way through it to establish what the correct facts are,” Acting Superintendent Brett said.

Vera Peacock on her second birthday. Picture: Supplied

He warned parents to watch their children closely during family events at this time of year.

“Please parents be vigilant with your children. There are a lot of people meeting for the first time in a long time it is very easy to become distracted with lots of people around. Be particularly vigilant when it comes to young children especially where there is a pool in the area.

“Don’t assume you know where they are, be sure you know where they are.”

Throughout the day there was a steady stream of neighbours, friends and relatives that visited the house carrying flowers and food.

Heartbroken family members have gathered at the home on Atchison Rd as they decide whether to have a traditional Maori funeral.

The girl and her mother, who did not live at the address, were celebrating the new year with family when tragedy struck.

It’s believed the family had only lived at the property for less than a year but the child was frequently seen at the home.

People arrive with flowers and groceries at the home in Macquarie Fields where a toddler drowned and later died in hospital. Picture: Jenny Evans

Paramedics performed CPR but she died shortly after being transported to Liverpool Hospital.

A neighbour said: “We saw a person lying on the grass out the front and then all the police came and they were everywhere. It’s shocking this has happened, it is so sad.”

Only a day later, a two-year-old boy was rushed to hospital after he was found in a frontyard water feature in Fairfield.

Police investigators at the scene in Macquarie Fields. Picture: Adam Yip

Another neighbour said there had been a party at the home on New Year’s Eve.

The shocking death is the latest in a horror festive season for drownings in NSW.

Meanwhile, in the Snowy Mountains, a major search operation was last night under way for a man in his 40s who went missing while swimming at Lake Eucumbene about 3pm.

The Westpac Helicopter, NSW Ambulance and the State Emergency Service were used in the search operation. It is expected to resume this morning.

“He went swimming and hasn’t returned,” Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter CEO Steven Leahy said as the search was suspended.

These latest events come after four people drowned on Friday, bringing the NSW drowning toll to 17.

Adnan Khan-Afridi drowned at Mermaid Pools, Tahmoor, southwest of Sydney on December 29.

Sujan Adhikari drowned at Wattamola in Royal National Park on Christmas Day.

Pakistani national Adnan Khan-Afridi was pulled from a waterhole in Tahmoor, southwest of Sydney, after he dived more than 20m.

Peter “Pace” Abd-El-Kaddous’s body was also discovered on Friday after he went for a swim in the Murrumbidgee River, in Wagga Wagga, two days earlier.

A 73-year-old man died after being pulled unconscious from the water at Brighton Le Sands that same day, while a 46-year-old man also died at Kolora Lake Reserve at Yamba. On Boxing Day, Grafton man Geoff Blackadder, 60, drowned in a rip at Wooli Beach near Coffs Harbour.

Geoffrey Blackadder died after he was caught in a rip at Wooli Beach, north of Coffs Harbour.

Toddler drowns after being pulled from backyard pool in Macquarie Fields