Pain of losing young son indescribable, says mother

death concluded that the centre had not breached its duty of care.

In a just-released decision, Coroner Sarn Herdson concluded the cause of his death was the effect of hanging due to a ligature from a cord attached to a toy stilt. Angels Childcare still uses the stilts but with close adult supervision.

Gisha Viju told Stuff the only thing she wanted was for what happened to her son to not happen to anyone else. ‘‘The pain we’ve gone through, still go through, I don’t know how to explain. No-one can understand that.’’

Aldrich had not long been dropped off on November 18 when his father, Viju Vareed, got a call saying there had been an accident.

The boy had been seen by a senior staff member playing outside and walking with a green plastic toy stilt over his shoulder. The witness, who has name suppression, told the inquest Aldrich was then seen with a friend, smiling and holding his hand. A short time later, she heard a teacher call Aldrich’s name.

She told the inquest: ‘‘There was no panic . . . just in a calm way. She [the teacher] had Aldrich in her arms and she was trying to remove the stilt.’’ She said the teacher performed CPR while she ran to the office to tell another staff member to call an ambulance.

The coroner said no caregiver saw Aldrich climbing the slide with the toy stilt, and it remained unknown how long he was unconscious after he became caught up in it.

Evidence as part of the inquest found the toy stilt is still manufactured and available on the market. There is a safety warning for it to not be used by children under the age of 3, and a ‘‘strangulation hazard’’ warning is written on it.

In the report, the coroner said concerns were raised by Aldrich’s parents about the centre’s obligation to keep children safe as well as the ratio of staff to children.

‘‘It was confirmed in evidence that Angels Childcare still uses toy stilts at the centre but in a different manner and with close adult supervision. There have also been reviews and reassessments of matters such as cords on clothing.’’

The slide involved was replaced by the centre.

In her report, the coroner said she was satisfied the childcare centre paid attention to its legal and professional obligations in regard to keeping children safe. There were relevant policies and practices in place at the time – including a rule about not taking toys on top of climbing equipment.

The coroner said the ratio of staff to children was satisfactory.