A two-year-old girl drowned in a swimming pool in Katherine in 2022 after the pool gate had been propped open with a gas bottle during a backyard barbecue, the coroner has heard.
Baby Croker, as the family wishes her to be known, was found lifeless in the water by a nine-year-old girl during a football team pre-season party in April 2022.
Northern Territory Coroner Elisabeth Armitage on Tuesday opened a three-day inquest into the little girl's death, examining the level of supervision on the day of the drowning, as well as pool fencing regulations in the NT.
Counsel Assisting the Coroner, Giles O'Brien-Hartcher, told the inquest there was no alcohol at the party and the adults had gathered in the car port of a home in Katherine, about five to 10 metres away from the pool area.
There were no adults in the pool or inside the pool fence when Baby Croker drowned.
"The gate between the pool and the garage area was propped open by a 9kg gas bottle so that the kids could go in and out of the pool area," Mr O'Brien-Hartcher said.
"The children went between the pool and the food, and played in the pool for between half-an-hour and an hour before lunch was served."
The coroner heard Baby Croker's mum saw her sitting on the edge of the pool around 2.30 that afternoon, but by 3.37pm the little girl had been pronounced dead at the Katherine Hospital, despite desperate CPR attempts.
'No More Exemptions' to pool fencing: Lifesavers
Examining pictures of the backyard presented to the coroner, the NT President of the Royal Lifesaving Society, Floss Roberts, said it was clear the adults at the party were too far from the water to properly supervise.
"It's really sad, and unfortunately it happens all the time, but no: it's not active supervision. [You] need to be within arm's reach of the child," she said.
Ms Roberts said the NT had the highest per capita drowning rate of all the states and territories, and that 83 per cent of fatal drownings occurred in backyard swimming pools. But she also questioned the official data on non-fatal drownings – estimated to be around eight to nine times the rate of fatal drownings – as it only includes victims who present to hospital.
Mr O'Brien-Hartcher told the coroner another drowning inquest in 2016 heard that 'large properties' in the NT, over 1.8 hectares, were exempt from pool fencing regulations and recommended the government "give consideration to the breadth of the exemption".
"If there is an appropriate reason for such exemptions it is assumed they relate to the likelihood of streams and dams on larger working properties," deputy coroner Kelvin Currie wrote at the time.
"However, that is a completely different type of hazard to a pool situated within metres of the house. Allowing that hazard to exist, where the property is rented as a residence, also seems somewhat inconsistent with the intent of the legislation."
Mr O'Brien-Hartcher noted the rural exemption remains, however the Katherine property where Baby Croker died was a suburban home.
Floss Roberts said it was clearly time for a change in the law.
"It's pretty sad that we have to change legislation based on drowning deaths, especially children, [but] it's time to say no more exemptions: a home swimming pool is a home swimming pool," she said.
The host of the party told the inquest the event was for her football teammates, including baby Croker's mother.
The host said her husband had propped the gate open that morning while cleaning, and failed to close it again.
"I should have shut the gate. I don't know if that would have prevented [the drowning], but I should have," she said.
Visibly upset, she said the drowning had affected her deeply.
"I left my house for a couple of nights.. [now] I don't really go into the pool at all, unless my partner's there. I just put my feet into it," she said.
"Now my daughter is at the age she's running around everywhere, I'm watching her 24/7."
She also told of her frustration that despite the tragedy, her husband still sometimes forgets to keep the gate shut.
Fencing regulations under scrutiny
Mr O'Brien-Hartcher told the inquest the pool's fencing was found to have "several faults" when it was inspected 10 days after Baby Croker drowned.
"However, given that the pool gate was propped open and because there was no proper or close supervision by any of the adults on this day, it is not likely that the defects in the pool fence contributed to the death," he said.
Regardless, the Northern Territory's pool fencing regulations will be examined closely by the coroner over the three-day inquiry.
"There have been many inquests around the country over the last several decades about toddlers drowning in backyard pools," Mr O'Brien-Hartcher said.
"Drowning is one of the leading causes of unintentional death for Australian children, and the vast majority of those deaths are preventable."
The coroner heard a 1996 inquest into the drowning deaths of five toddlers saw the then-coroner, John Lowndes, recommend the Northern Territory government establish a working group to consider the "sufficiency of pool fencing requirements".
Minutes of the working group's meetings could not be found, however, it delivered two key recommendations given to the then-Department of Local Government, which informed the Swimming Pool Safety Act of 2004.
The coroner's inquiry will continue tomorrow.
