The Victorian government has again been urged by a coroner to implement better pool safety measures following the drowning death of a two-year-old boy, who left his sleeping mother and entered a backyard pool through a faulty gate in Melton South.
The death of Elijah Meldrum on September 14, 2015 was preventable, according to coroner Audrey Jamieson, who found the rental property’s tenants failed to inform their landlord and letting real estate agency that the pool’s two gates were not working.
Ms Jamieson’s call on the state government to overhaul pool fencing regulations and consider a register similar to that in Queensland is the fourth time since 2012 that a Victorian coroner has recommended action to prevent child drownings.
Figures released by the Coroners Court show 26 children drowned in domestic pools in Victoria between 2000 and the start of 2015. In most cases fences or gates were either faulty or left open.
In every case the level of adult supervision was assessed as inadequate.
Elijah and his mother, Lisa Carter, were staying with Edward Hewett and Kristina Wilson at the couple’s rented home in Melton South when the toddler woke and made his way to the pool.
Ms Carter woke and found her son in the pool but he could not be revived. The inquest heard she had sublet off Mr Hewett and Ms Wilson because she had nowhere else to go, but had not planned to stay long as the couple argued regularly.
In findings published on Monday, the coroner said Elijah’s death occurred amid “the sub-optimal involvement of the DHHS, the lackadaisical approach about responsibilities to the child by a number of adults and the seemingly perpetually inadequate regulation of swimming pools in Victoria”.
Ms Jamieson called on the state government to overhaul pool fencing regulations and establish a statewide register, ensure owners get pool safety certificates when selling properties, and have pool gates and fences be a specific part of real estate inspections.
Since Queensland introduced better regulations in 2010 that state’s rate of child drownings in pools had halved, the coroner said.
Elijah’s inquest was told the property’s owner and letting agents were unaware the pool gates were faulty.
Ms Jamieson said it had been incumbent on Mr Hewett and Ms Wilson to notify the agent.
“Despite their intimate knowledge of the state of the pool safety barriers, they nevertheless unofficially sublet the premises to Lisa, a woman with a two-year-old son, without seeking to ensure the safety of the property,” she said.
By Adam Cooper, The Age
