Parents say they ‘relive’ daughter’s birthday pool party death every day
THE PARENTS of a seven-yearold girl who drowned at her best friend’s birthday pool party have said it feels like they “relive her passing every day”, as an inquest concluded her death was accidental.
Maya Kantengule was found at the bottom of the pool while there was no lifeguard on duty, an inquest at Norfolk Coroner’s Court in Norwich was told.
She was dragged from the pool by her best friend’s mother and sister, who battled to save her, but she died in hospital with her parents at her bedside.
Her father, Livial Kantengule, and mother, Glenda, said in a statement: “We are still devastated following the passing of our beloved daughter, Maya Grace Kantengule.
“The pain is still unbearable and, even though it’s been over a year, it feels like we relive her passing every day.
“We miss her dearly and she has left a void that is difficult to fill.”
Mr Kantengule told the inquest he believed his daughter could swim as she had received lessons at school.
But teaching assistant Jaqueline Bell said in a written statement that Maya, from Oulton Broad, Suffolk, was not a confident swimmer.
“She was nervous in the water and would use armbands and a woggle (swimming aid),” she said.
Maya died at the James Paget University Hospital near Great Yarmouth on May 1 2016.
A jury returned a conclusion of accidental death yesterday.