Inquests probe two backyard pool deaths in Queensland

THE horrible deaths of two children, both subject to separate coronial inquiries, are serving as a timely reminder to parents this summer.

The silent killer in our backyards

IT IS the news no parent wants to hear.

“Your boy’s drowned in my pool,” Queensland mother Hayley Corben was told after a neighbour found her four-year-old son, William, floating head-down in the water.

A Brisbane inquest has heard William could not swim and may have drowned because the neighbour’s backyard pool gate was left propped open.

It’s the second time in a week a Queensland coroner’s court has heard a non-secure pool fence may have contributed to the backyard drowning of a child.

Last week, in a separate inquiry, a coroner found a 15-month-old boy, Tyson, died when he passed through a fence surrounding his uncle’s backyard pool. The fence had been propped open with a piece of timber.

According to drowning prevention and awareness group Hannah’s Foundation, there have been 13 backyard pool deaths since 2013 and all related to some extent to the propping open of pool gates.

And with the summer holidays in full swing, the deaths of William and Tyson have both served as timely reminders to parents and pool-owners to not let convenience override safety.

‘WHO LET THEM IN THE POOL?’

Four-year-old William Corben drowned in his neighbours’ backyard pool when a play date turned to tragedy on the Gold Coast on February 28 this year.

A major point of contention in the inquest is about whether the fence surrounding the pool was propped open with a piece of wood, allowing William, who could not swim, to reach the water.

The youngster was found at the bottom of the pool by the owner, Rodney Stewart, who had been supervising the area with his wife, Lisa Stewart.

The inquest heard Mrs Stewart took over supervising duties while her husband mowed the lawn, but she was inside their house when Mr Stewart found William.

William’s mother Hayley Corben was told by a hospital doctor that William must have been in the water for about 20 to 27 minutes before Mr Stewart pulled him for the water.

He then ran to her to tell her what had happened.

“I remember Rod running out saying ‘Your boy’s drowned in my pool’,” Mrs Corben told Brisbane Coroner’s Court, the Courier Mail reported.

Mrs Corben said she did not know the children had been let into the Stewarts’ pool.

She said as her son was being given CPR she was yelling out, “Who let them in the pool? Why didn’t anybody tell me they were in the pool? Nobody told me they were swimming.”

William hung to life for four days until his family made the heart-wrenching decision to switch off his life support.

The death of the little boy — who often wore his thongs on the wrong feet — inspired a widespread social media tribute in which people posted photos of their mixed-up thongs.

The tragedy also prompted William’s parents to call for law changes that would bring criminal charges against adults who prevented a pool gate from latching properly.

“Our frustration as parents is that there are no consequences,” Mrs Corben told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

“That’s what we’re fighting for in William’s honour, so there is a deterrent. At the moment there is zero.”

The family is working to create William’s Law and are supported by Hannah’s Foundation, which was founded by the parents of two-year-old Hannah Plint, who drowned in a backyard pool in 2007.

The inquest by Deputy State Coroner John Lock is ongoing.

A FATAL MISTAKE

A separate coronial inquest, which has closed, heard a similarly propped-open pool fence led to the drowning death of 15-month-old Tyson in his uncle’s backyard in Regency Downs, west of Ipswich.

The court heard the young boy had wandered off from four family members as they changed a car tyre at the property on the property on March 20 this year.

Tyson is understood to have slipped into the pool area because the fence was held partially open with a piece of timber.

He struck his head on a step, blacked out and drowned in just 310mm of water. The court heard his uncle was in the process of draining the pool and it was only shallowly filled with dirty, untreated water.

Tyson was found unconscious and with no pulse, the court heard.

“[Tyson’s mother] went to walk past the pool and looked in and could see [Tyson’s] little red shirt floating on the top,” Mr Lock said.

“She screamed and then ran around to the gate and tripped on the edge of the pool and landed on the pool steps. There was no water at the depth of the steps.

“She estimated the time frame from when she last saw [Tyson] … was between five and 10 minutes.”

Tyson’s mother started CPR and he was rushed to hospital but died after his life support was turned off the next day.

In her submissions, Counsel Assisting Megan Jarvis quoted his mother’s warning to other pool owners to never prop open their gates.

“Always make sure your pool gate is closed,” she read.

“Never prop it open — tragedies happen in a second.”

The mother also warned other parents: “Don’t believe it can’t happen to you.”

The inquest heard the boy’s uncle was now racked with guilt and the family was suffering from the “immense” loss of the young child.

“[This] has had huge ramifications on this family,” Detective Sergeant Bronagh Gillespie said.

A subsequent inspection of the pool found it had a defective self-locking mechanism and a dilapidated resuscitation sign, Lockyer Valley Regional Council building certifier Garry Shum said. But Ms Jarvis noted the act of propping open the gate was enough to pose a serious risk.

Kat Plint, who founded Hannah’s Foundation, said the council must be retrained in pool compliance and harsher penalties placed on those who didn’t maintain the standards to ensure a deterrent effect.

Delivering his findings into Tyson’s death on Friday, Mr Lock said Tyson’s death was preventable.

He determined an inquest be held to “raise awareness of the risks to young children when they are playing in and around water”.

“As with William, it is hoped that upon hearing [Tyson’s] story, a pool owner may decide to take that one extra step that ends up being critical in preventing a tragedy such as the one experienced by [Tyson’s] family,” he said.

The Queensland Government’s Inter-departmental Committee for Pool Safety is reviewing pool safety in the state and is due to deliver their deliberations early in the new year.

Mr Lock said he would postpone handing down recommendations into Tyson’s death until the committee’s report was released and he had handed down his findings into William Corben’s death.

But the coroner added: “Given we are in the midst of summer holidays … I endorse the efforts of Hannah’s Foundation and its attempts to raise public awareness about all aspects of pool safety.

“In particular, the message of not propping the gate open and to supervise vigilantly, will save lives.”