This was published 2 years ago
A moment to answer the door, and Fiori’s world was torn apart
Twenty seconds. Twenty seconds and a few centimetres of water is all it takes for a child to drown.
But Fiori Giovanni, who was raised in a house without a bath in the north-east African country of Eritrea, has never heard of this terrifying statistic, and didn’t know children have drowned in baths, Eskies, fishponds, buckets and even pet bowls.
The doorbell to her Southbank apartment rings at 7.14am on July 18, 2020. Giovanni is looking forward to seeing Ben Bellinger, the father of her children. They have separated but remain close and he visits almost every day.
Fiori Giovanni has been appointed a Kidsafe ambassador to educate parents that it only takes 20 seconds for a young child to drown.Credit: Joe Armao
Odis, 2½ years old, and Illen, 7½ months, are playing happily with their toys in the bath. The water only reaches Illen’s waist.
Giovanni answers the door.
“I opened the door to let Ben in, and I opened a sliding door of the most torturous kind.”
When they go into the bathroom, Illen has slid under the water. She is unresponsive. Giovanni and Bellinger are frenzied. They call triple zero and frantically take turns trying to revive Illen while they wait for the ambulance to arrive.
Twenty-five children under the age of five drowned in 2020-21 in Australia, according to Royal Life Saving Australia’s National Drowning Report. This is more than double the previous year. Five drowned in bathtubs and spas.
“I’m trying to go back in time to understand what happened; why did I not see this? I kept going back into this moment.”
Twenty minutes
For 20 minutes, Giovanni watches, helplessly crying, as paramedics try in vain to resuscitate Illen.
“We were in complete shock because it just happened, just like that, just so fast,” she whispers. “I’m trying to go back in time to understand what happened; why did I not see this? I kept going back into this moment.”
When Giovanni became pregnant, she enrolled in parenting classes and bought multiple books on child development. She soaked up parenting tips.
A child maternal nurse once told her to never leave a baby on a changing table, even if they can’t roll, because that second when your back is turned could be the moment the baby rolls for the first time.
If Odis cried, and she needed to check on him, she would scoop Illen up halfway through changing her nappy, even if it meant she was covered in faeces.
Fiori Giovanni with her son, Odis.
But she didn’t know what she knows now – always remain within arm’s reach of babies and toddlers in water. Giovanni’s understanding of drowning was connected with the Mediterranean Sea – where thousands of migrants, including her brother, died trying to reach Europe – not a few centimetres of water in a bath.
“When they actually told us, ‘Illen, she’s gone’, I screamed and screamed and screamed, and I fell on the floor. The paramedics turned their attention to me trying to revive me, thinking that I had had a heart attack,” she says.
“And when the coroner came, my heart was just pulling off my chest, ‘Noooo, I haven’t finished saying goodbye’, and then I was knocking [on] the lift [doors], ‘I WANT MY DAUGHTER BACK’.”
Eleven hours
For 11 hours, Giovanni is held at the police station.
A person can be held in custody for a “reasonable time”, a police spokesperson says, noting this is not a specific set time.
Police notify child protection services, who say Giovanni can only see her son, Odis, under supervision, even though Odis’ father, Bellinger, tells them she is a great mum.
“I have been with Fiori for four years, and I know her to be a good and caring mother with only the best intentions for her children in mind,” Bellinger would later write to the court.
Giovanni says Odis had never experienced separation from her before. “We had all just lost our Illen, and more than anything else, we needed each other. Yet we were torn apart,” she says. “I had no idea what I was saying, I wasn’t making any sense.”
Two months
Two months later, Giovanni is charged with child homicide. Her lawyers are nonplussed.
“Our research has been unable to reveal a single instance of prosecution in Victoria of child homicide in circumstances where a parent left their child unsupervised and in that time the child drowned,” Emma Turnbull Lawyers say in a letter to the Office of Public Prosecutions in November 2020.
“As to why the decision has been made to prosecute Ms Giovanni … it is impossible to say.”
The punishment Giovanni has been dealt through the loss of her child will be lifelong and permanent, the lawyers say.
“Focus on education and training of parents is something that can always be improved and reinforced through mediums other than the justice system.”
A police spokesperson says the decision to lay charges in any matter is based on the available evidence.
“I thought that I had experienced the worst kind of pain that the world has to give but I quickly realised that day Illen died, and for weeks and months that followed, that I hadn’t even come close.”
Five months
It is five months before Giovanni can be with Odis without supervision.
Giovanni has already experienced a lifetime of hardship and tragedy before she migrated to Australia and became a business and executive coach and motivational speaker.
At the age of 12, her marriage in Eritrea was already arranged, she writes in her 2019 memoir, Defy Your Destiny.
“I basically told my parents that if I was forced to marry, I was going to take my own life and that the food they were preparing for my wedding would be used for my funeral. And that worked.”
By 14, she was recruited into the Eritrean army and sent to work at a military hospital.
A year later, she escaped to Sudan on bicycle. She crossed from Libya to Italy in a motorised dingy and sought asylum in Belgium.
Fiori Giovanni in Sudan, where she fled by bicycle aged 15.
Five years later, her beloved brother, Amanuel, 19, drowned attempting the same perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.
“I thought that I had experienced the worst kind of pain that the world has to give but I quickly realised that day Illen died, and for weeks and months that followed, that I hadn’t even come close.”
Twelve months
Twelve months after Giovanni is charged with child homicide, the prosecution drops the case in the Supreme Court. No reason is given.
“I would like to get that explanation,” Giovanni says. “My lawyers asked them to drop the case in November. They said no. And then 14 months after Illen died, they drop it. Can you tell us why?”
An Office of Public Prosecutions spokeswoman says that after careful consideration and consultation with the chief Crown prosecutor and a senior Crown prosecutor, the director determined to discontinue the proceedings. “It is inappropriate to comment further,” she says.
Somehow, Giovanni has managed to keep going despite everything she has lost. She says it is what her Illen would want her to do because she is the mother of another child. “I am not only Illen’s mum, I am also Odis’ mum. You keep going to do the other things that you need to do.”
Two years
This month, Giovanni was appointed an ambassador of Kidsafe Australia, a charity dedicated to the prevention of unintentional death and serious injury to children aged up to 15.
“Kidsafe Australia is proud to work with Fiori to ... educate families and carers how to keep their kids safe,” says CEO Melanie Courtney. “Fiori’s tragic experience in losing Illen may help save other lives.”
In the spiritual world, Giovanni says, it is believed that the child chooses the parents.
“I don’t know if I believe it, or if it serves me to believe it. But I am just incredibly fortunate and blessed that Illen has chosen me to be her mummy for the 7½ months that she graced this earth.
“And whether it’s with Kidsafe, or with my other work, she’s there with me all the time. I feel guided by her. I want to do everything I can to prevent other parents from experiencing this loss.”
If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636. For help in a crisis, call triple zero.
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