Portaferry toddler drowned in garden pond, inquest told

Portaferry toddler drowned in garden pond, inquest told

16 January 2013

AN inquest has heard how a Portaferry toddler drowned in a garden pond just moments after wandering away from her family.

Twenty month-old Emily Jo McCaughey Clarke was discovered face down at the bottom of the pool in the garden of a family friend’s house in Ballyhalbert on October 8, 2010.

She was brain dead by the time she was lifted from the water and was pronounced dead later in hospital, doctors said.

Homeowner Leonora Ginn, who found the tiny victim, said: “My first impression was if the child was not dead she was close to it. The water was gushing out of the child’s mouth.”

The Belfast inquest heard how Ms Ginn had invited the family to her Harbour Road property in the village after a Sunday Methodist church service.

Emily Jo’s mother Kirsty Clarke enjoyed gardening and they spent several hours weeding flower beds with the infant running in and out of the house, checking regularly on her.

The pond was at the top of the garden in a raised area and was barely visible from where the adults and another child were working in warm sunlight in June last year.

The only clue that Emily Jo was in the murky pond was her bottle lying near the water’s edge.

Emily Jo’s grandmother Jo Ellen Mercer was also present and said: “The whole incident from Emily being at the (kitchen) table to being in the pond could not have been a five-minute gap, it all happened so fast.”

The family tried to resuscitate her, the emergency services attended and the baby was taken to the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald then on to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast but the prognosis was poor.

Sean McGovern, emergency medicine consultant at the Ulster Hospital, said: “Unfortunately her brain died whilst in the pond and whilst attempts were made to restart the heart they were ultimately futile in terms of returning to brain recovery.”

Coroner Jim Kitson recorded the cause of death as cerebral hypoxia and pneumonia after the baby fell into the pool.

“This is a tragic accident. Ponds are notoriously dangerous where young children are concerned, it was located quite some distance from anyone,” he said.

Mr. Kitson added: “I do not want anyone to leave court today with the impression that anyone is under any cloud of blame.”