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Inquest Into Drowning Of Perth Toddler Begins

The 2-year-old died after entering a daycare pool

The parents of a two-year-old Perth boy who drowned at a family daycare centre have said his death was “entirely preventable”.

On November 9, 2010, Lachlan Mitchell was found floating unconscious in a Carramar daycare swimming pool after being left unsupervised for several minutes. He died the next day—just two days short of his third birthday. 

A coronial inquest into Lachlan’s death is currently reviewing how the little boy drowned in the pool and assessing family daycare regulations, Perth Now reports. 

The inquest heard that the centre’s owner, Karla Zablah, was inside attending to a baby for between five and seven minutes before she discovered Lachlan floating in the pool.

The counsel assisting the coroner, Fleur Allen, said Lachlan may have used pot plants to climb the fence to the pool, or entered via a gate which might not have been firmly closed.  

John Hammon, the Mitchell family’s lawyer, said “Lachlan died as a result of an event which we say was entirely preventable,” the ABC reports.

The little boy’s parents have called for pools to be banned at daycare centres in Western Australia.

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