Great-granddad of murdered girl says failures not to blame
The great-grandfather of murdered toddler Nevaeh Ager says 111 emergency call errors are not to blame for the two-yearold’s death.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority released its findings in relation to the handling of the call reporting concerns about a child’s welfare yesterday.
Nevaeh’s great-grandmother called 111 on March 20, 2019, with concerns about her granddaughter’s partner, Aaron Izett, and the wellbeing of her greatgrandchild in his care.
She said Nevaeh was at the house alone with her father while her mother was in hospital and among other things said Izett was ‘‘off his brain’’ and had just attacked her and her husband.
The call taker advised her police did not have the power to intervene or remove Nevaeh from the Maketu property as she and her husband did not have custody.
The following morning police received a number of calls about concerning behaviour at the same address, which led to the discovery of Nevaeh’s body in a nearby estuary.
Nevaeh’s great-grandfather John Sturgess told Stuff they were trying to get over it all.
‘‘There’s really nothing much we can do with what’s happened with the phone call, so we are trying to put it behind us and get on with things.’’
He said they had a really good, open meeting with police on Monday and explained how they felt and the police explained they had made errors.
‘‘By and large we believe the problem was the guy who committed the homicide and this was really only a side issue.’’
An IPCA investigation found the 111 call was not handled in accordance with police policy, standard operating procedures and good practice.
It found the call taker coded the event incorrectly, gave inaccurate advice and failed to record detail that may have affected the police response.
Dispatchers also failed to conduct the appropriate checks and pass on relevant information, failing to check the police database for further information on Izett. A second dispatcher later checked the database and verbally advised the first dispatcher of the relevant information, but did not copy significant information into the 111 event.
‘‘While police processes were found wanting, due to uncertainty about the exact timing of Nevaeh’s death, it is not possible to say whether police would have prevented her being harmed if they had gone to check on her shortly after Mrs Sturgess’ call,’’ Judge Colin Doherty said.
The IPCA investigation concluded police responded appropriately to the information the call taker had recorded about the incident.
However, had the relevant information been recorded and properly coded, police likely would have responded much earlier than they ultimately did.
‘‘We let Nevaeh and her family down,’’ Assistant Commissioner Tusha Penny said in a statement yesterday.
‘‘Had the information from the 111 call been properly recorded and shared, police may have had an opportunity to intervene.’’
The call taker and dispatchers involved were receiving ongoing support and training.