On the hot afternoon of February 13, Nathan was found unconscious and
vomiting in the back of his mother's car after he got himself trapped inside.
The child had been missing for about an hour-and-a-half when his mother discovered him.
Nathan was pulled out of the car unconscious and his family tried to cool him down with one performing CPR on the child.
Emergency services were called, but unfortunately, the he was unable to be revived.
The family shared the property with some of Nathan's relatives including his grandfather and aunt.
The grandfather's home was at the front, while Nathan's parents and siblings, both 10, had a home at the rear of the property.
Nathan was known to sometimes wander down to his grandfather's home and his mother often got one of his siblings to run down and stop him when he did.
On February 13, Nathan and his mother returned home from kindergarten about 5pm.
They spent some time at Nathan's grandfather's home before returning home with his siblings.
Nathan's mother asked one of the children to help prepare dinner and asked the other to watch the 2-year-old while she had a shower.
After her shower, which lasted about 30 minutes, she came out and asked one of the siblings where Nathan was.
She asked one of them to run down to their grandfather's home to see if Nathan was there.
However, instead the child only went to the back door of the house and returned to say Nathan was next door. However, this was not the case.
After dinner was ready, Nathan's mother again sent one of the siblings to collect the 2-year-old from his grandfather's home.
The child returned and said the grandfather had said that he had not seen Nathan for a while.
A family began searching for the child, heading to a nearby park and looking around the neighbourhood.
It was about 7pm when Nathan's mother decided to get in the car to look for him and as she opened the driver's door, she was struck by a "wave of heat".
She saw Nathan in the rear of the car lying on his side. She could hear him breathing but he was vomiting and she could see vomit on the floor.
The electric windows in the car were closed and the left rear door had the child lock activated.
It had been more than an hour since she had seen him last.
She immediately took him out of the car and family members rushed to call emergency services. At this stage, Nathan had stopped breathing.
The grandfather performed CPR on the boy, who was pale and unresponsive until ambulance staff arrived. Resuscitation continued but he was unable to be revived.
Coroner Bates' report stated that Nathan's death was a tragic reminder of the need for toddlers and young children to have constant adult supervision.
He said it was also a reminder that adults should ensure vehicles were kept locked and keys were stored securely.
It was not clear whether Nathan had found the keys and known how to unlock it as he was an "intelligent, mobile and curious" child and did know how to unlock a car.
He said it was especially important that young children did not use motor vehicles as play areas, as given their "naturally inquisitive minds and tendency to wander", this might lead to further exploration of them alone.
Nathan's family declined to comment.
