Toddler drowns while mum in toilet

Rewha Wade tried in vain to resuscitate the toddler. Photo / Alan Gibson

The man who tried to revive a toddler drowned in a rubbish bin full of rainwater says he could have saved the child had he reached him one minute earlier.

Goldmine worker Rewha Wade was still coming to terms with the tragedy yesterday.

"I've got to live with it for the rest of my life," he said.

"We train in the mine to do CPR and we're trained to act with responsibility and to do the right thing ... and that day wasn't our day."

The tragedy happened when the 18-month-old was left briefly unattended in the backyard of his Waihi home while his mother went to the toilet around midday on Tuesday.

Mr Wade, a friend of the family, said he was sitting at the table with the child's father as the mother started searching the property when she could not hear the toddler.

Seconds later, she found him with his head and neck submerged in a plastic yellow rubbish bucket, half filled with rainwater, by the back door.

Mr Wade said he and the boy's father rushed outside when they heard the mother's cries.

He and the father - both workers at the Newmont Waihi Gold mine and trained to do CPR - tried in vain to revive the toddler, and an ambulance was called.

Resuscitation attempts by ambulance officers and a doctor also failed.

Mr Wade believed that if he and the father had reached the child one minute earlier, they might have been able to save his life.

The boy's grandfather said the toddler, whose name has been suppressed by the coroner, loved being outdoors, where he could run down hills and play with his toy trucks.

"My grandson was an outgoing boy ... He was just outside playing and this tragedy happened.

"So it's an act of God or it's one of these things that can happen."

The rubbish bin was an "obstacle that had been around for ages and no one thought anything of it", he said. "It took his life."

Fighting back tears, he said his grandson was "a very affectionate little boy" who would have been "jumping off the couches" if stuck indoors.

"He wouldn't use the steps of our terrace, he'd jump into the garden. In the short period of 18 months we knew him, you couldn't ask for anything better - I'm proud to call him a grandson.

"He was a typical boy, but one of the biggest things I'll remember him for was just the affectionate hugs he used to give me, and you can't ask for much more."

Mr Wade, the boy's grandfather and Waihi police sergeant Dave Litton say the tragedy should be a reminder to parents to look for any hazardous items around their homes.

"The family is grieving the sad loss of their much-loved little boy, brother, grandson and nephew," the grandfather said. "We'd just like to stress that other parents should check their properties for any other containers that can retain water to avoid any further tragedies."

Mr Wade said: "When you go home tonight, hug your kids, because they are precious, and in a minute they could be gone.

"So we're in the hope that the community will learn that a small bucket can kill a baby. We are trying to learn from this and hope it doesn't happen to any other family."

Mr Litton described the family as a "typical New Zealand family" whom he knew through work with St John and the local surf life saving club.

"I had contact with the little fella as well. Not for very long, but I'd seen him when he's been with us through the New Zealand Surf Life Saving Club.

"It's just one of those horrible things that could happen to anyone and it will have a ripple effect around the town."

Mr Wade said the mining community had rallied around the family.

"We are all a pretty strong unit working in the mine, and they're all thinking of the family."

Newmont Waihi Gold spokesman Sefton Darby said the company had offered the family support "at what is obviously a horrible and devastating time for them".