‘No blame’ on family over drowning

A coroner has refused to blame the death of an autistic child on poor supervision, saying people cannot watch children ‘‘like hawks’’.

Jahmaine Terry Reihana, 5, drowned at his rural Foxton home after climbing the terraced sides of a 1.3-metre-high water tank, removing the manhole and falling in.

In his report into the September 24, 2014 death, released yesterday, Coroner Tim Scott said no one was responsible for Jahmaine’s death, despite the autistic child needing constant supervision.

Jahmaine had a history of run- ning off, which all his family knew, but his parents, Teri Green and Jonathan Reihana, felt he was starting to acknowledge instructions.

They had decided to start giving him more independence, letting him do what he wanted for about five minutes at a time.

On the day he died, Jahmaine was at home with his parents, as well as his grandfather, greatgrandmother and 2-year-old sister.

Green served lunch at about 1.30pm, and Reihana had a shower while the children ate.

When he got out the shower he heard Green calling for Jahmaine. She said Jahmaine had wandered off when she had turned away for a matter of seconds to help his sister.

Reihana knew straight away Jahmaine would be in the tank, as the manhole cover had never been moved. He jumped in and pulled out his son – who was unresponsive and not breathing – while Green called emergency services.

Scott said it was obvious Jahmaine wandered off while his mum was distracted. But he did not blame Green for what happened, despite the family knowing Jahmaine was ‘‘hyperactive, with little or no sense of fear’’. ‘‘ They all knew that he needed to be watched almost constantly. That is a hard ask.

‘‘I do not think [Green] can be criticised in any way for turning away for a short period of time to attend the needs of her younger daughter.

‘‘The adult family members could not be expected to watch Jahmaine constantly – like hawks – 24/7.’’