KEY POINTS:
A grieving couple have built a fence around the pond in which their daughter drowned after their landlord refused.
Pregnant Kelly Frank plunged into the oxidation pond to save Summer, 3, and little brother Brodie, 2, after they wandered from their home on a Taranaki farm 10 days
ago.
Kelly rescued Brodie after performing CPR but was unable to save Summer.
She and her husband Aaron are sharemilkers who moved into the house near Hawera in June.
The children's grandmother, Ellen Frank, said last week she asked farm owner Francis Mullan to fence the pond several months ago.
Federated Farmers Taranaki president Peter Adamski said last week there was no legal requirement to restrict access to such ponds.
But yesterday he confirmed the organisation's contract contained a clause saying: "The sharemilker's house must include a suitable area surrounding it and be securely fenced."
Mullan refused to comment when contacted by the Herald on Sunday last night.
Speaking for the first time this week, Kelly said two players from the local Kapuni rugby club and members of the area's farming community offered to build a fence, but Mullan refused.
"So we ended building one ourselves. We just bought all the supplies on our account and my partner and a fencing mate of his built it.
"It was a bit sad really because we said, 'sorry Summer it should have been built while you were here to keep you safe, but it's up for Brodie now'."
Kelly said her anger at Mullan had passed and she didn't want anything from him except an apology.
"I don't want his money or anything like that, I just want people like him to realise that their properties need a little bit more securing and it should be done because it doesn't cost that much."
A Labour Department said it was a police matter but police have completed their investigation and will not lay charges.
Adamski said last week most farm properties were reasonably well-fenced, but parents needed to be aware of the dangers.
"There is water everywhere, water troughs, ponds, and kids just go for it. You have to give them their boundaries and keep an eye on them."
The children were playing on their toy bikes outside while Kelly was dealing with morning sickness. But it took only a couple of minutes for the pair to wander almost 200m to the pond.
Kelly, who thought only of her children when she slid into the pond, said she was still in shock but had to be strong for Brodie.
"It's only been in the last couple of nights we have been able to give him a proper bath because he wouldn't go near the water - he was scared stiff.
"He didn't want to go outside but he seems to have slowly come out of that."
Kelly and Aaron are expecting their third child in August.
"I was originally hoping for another boy because girls are quite hard work," said Kelly.
"But now I would love to have another little girl because my girl has been taken away."Summer's death was the 13th from drowning this year.
