Crash tore baby girl from her mum’s arms
Heartbroken mum: Our hearts died with her that day . . . I sacrificed the most important thing in the world
The mother of a 3- month- old baby killed in a car crash because she was not restrained has spoken out about her heartbreak in a bid to save other little lives.
Alexandria Grace Navacilla was just 87 days old when she died after the car she was in with her family crashed in the Waikato.
Hers was a death that should never have happened.
Baby Lexie was on her mother’s lap when the car crashed. Her carseat was in the boot.
Mary Navacilla wants other parents to learn from her fatal mistake, to spare another family from the pain her life is now filled with.
“I believe I needed to do this, sharing and informing, I didn’t want to waste the death of my daughter,” she said.
“I need to warn other parents, so they won’t experience the pain that we’ve been through . . . I believe it’s my daughter’s legacy.
“Losing a child that way i s the most excruciating thing in the world and I would not want anyone to experience that.
“It is the hardest lesson to learn . . . Every day I ask for forgiveness for not being able to protect her and for losing her.”
It was May 2014 when Navacilla’s life changed forever.
She was in a car heading to Auckland with her husband, Titus, baby Lexie, 3- year- old son Gabriel and t wo friends when their vehicle crashed into a bank at Kopaki near Waitomo.
Navacilla was holding her 12- week- old daughter in her lap when the impact tore the baby from her arms. Lexie suffered severe injuries and died in Starship children’s hospital the next day.
Tragically, police at the scene found Lexie’s carseat in the boot.
Had she been strapped in to that seat, she would probably be alive today.
“We were going to Auckland to buy a bigger car for the family and Emma ( a friend) volunteered to accompany us,” Navacilla recalled.
The plan was for the family and Emma to go, with Titus Navacilla driving.
But then Emma’s boyfriend asked to come.
Navacilla suggested he take the bus and meet them in Auckland but he jumped in the car and insisted he drive.
“I had no choice but to hold Lexie in my lap even though it was against my will,” Navacilla said.
“Filipino hospitality or being friendly [ led to] me sacrificing the most important thing in the world.”
Navacilla remembers the crash that killed her baby girl.
“We were turning on a left- hand curve when he lost control of the car,” she said. “He was speeding . . . The car crossed the centreline and bumped into the wall on the other side of the road.”
Lexie was forced from her mother’s arms and suffered nonsurvivable injuries.
“It was the most painful thing in the world,” Navacilla said.
“How I wish it would have been me instead . . . I never wanted my baby to get hurt, that’s the last thing I ever wanted to happen to her.
“My husband and I and our son, our hearts died with her that day.
“We really didn’t know how to cope from there . . . It was a life sentence.”
Navacilla still struggles with her daughter’s death.
“I can’t bear losing a child and to lose her that way . . . I felt that I’m the worst mother in the whole world.”
Navacilla and her husband were later convicted of failing to protect a child under the age of 18.
They received a suspended sentence, meaning if they did not reoffend within 12 months they would not face further punishment. That period has now been completed.
The driver was convicted of recklessly causing death and jailed for three years and six months and disqualified from driving for three years.
“It was so difficult having to cope with the loss plus we were trying to heal ourselves from the crash physically, mentally and spiritually.
“Then we had to face the charge for her death, we just didn’t know what to do.
“Every day, I just wake up, take care of my son, go to work, face reality, go home — I just don’t feel a thing any more, I felt like I’m a walking dead person inside.”
Navacilla often thinks of Lexie, and what she could have done differently that terrible day.
“She was a very beautiful, good and cuddly little baby. She didn’t give us a hard time looking after her, she wasn’t demanding. She’s just one of the best things that happened to us.”
The bereft mother remembered the moment she realised there was not enough room in the car for all the adults and the baby seat.
“I asked my husband to place it in the boot and said we will use it when we get the new car,” she said.
“If only I could turn back time I would do it differently. It was a very hard lesson to learn.”
Navacilla said her family still struggled with the loss of Lexie.
“We are somehow coping, we face one day at a time,” she said. “Not a single day passes that we don’t miss her . . . especially my son Gabriel.
“The family prays for her and she’s always in our hearts.
“She’s our guardian angel, I’m thinking that she’s up in heaven looking after us and that she’s pain- free.”
‘ It is the hardest lesson to learn. Every day I ask for forgiveness for not being able to protect her and for losing her.’
MumMary Navacilla