A distraught dad screamed in horror when he realised his 15-month-old daughter had died after she was left inside his car all day, a witness has revealed.
Roy Gomes was mowing his lawn when he heard the chilling cries of the devastated father as he made the tragic discovery, then tried in vain to revive her.
The father had arrived to collect his daughter from Jelly Beings Early Learning Centre at Earlwood in Sydney’s inner west on Tuesday afternoon.
But when he was told she had not attended that day, he suddenly realised he must have left her in the back of his car earlier that day when he was dropping her off, and that she was still in the vehicle.
‘I heard screaming and ran out and saw the father with the baby,’ said Mr Gomes, whose home neighbours the childcare centre. ‘I took her off him and tried CPR for about five minutes until ambulance arrived.
‘All the neighbours were really good at putting water on her, trying to cool her down because she was obviously still very hot. But she was just floppy and there was no life.’
Mr Gomes recalled the father’s heartbreaking screams as they tried reviving the young girl.
‘It all happened so quick; he was screaming, the poor guy, he kept screaming “I killed my daughter”,’ said Mr Gomes.
Emergency services raced to the scene in Marana Road at about 5.35pm on Tuesday following reports of an unresponsive child inside a car.
However paramedics were unable to revive the one-year-old.
Police said they believed the little girl had been mistakenly left in the car for an ‘extended period of time’ as temperatures soared past 30C in Sydney.
They suspect the father only realised he hadn’t actually dropped her off at the childcare centre earlier in the day when when arrived to pick her up in the afternoon.
The exact circumstances of what happened are still being investigated.
NSW Police have established a crime scene and commenced a major investigation.
On Wednesday detectives were seen arriving at the childcare centre as parents arrived to drop their kids off for the day.
A neighbour confirmed the sign for the childcare centre had been removed from the front yard following the horrific incident.
‘Leaving a child in a vehicle at any time can be dangerous,’ Superintendent Christine McDonald told reporters on Tuesday night.
‘Leaving a child inside a vehicle for an extended period of time can be deadly.
‘This is an absolute tragedy.
‘It’s something that affects the wider community as well… This has a rippling effect right throughout our community because so many of us can put ourselves in a similar situation.’
No charges have been laid over the tragedy.
The male car owner was later transported to hospital suffering from shock.
‘Once he’s able to, we’ll speak to him to obtain more details,’ Supt McDonald said.
The child’s mother was also assisting police.
Emergency responders who attended the ‘deeply traumatic’ incident will be offered support.
‘I’m a mother, you can imagine how traumatic, you just – in fact, you can’t even imagine it,’ Supt McDonald said.
‘So no doubt the parents will be extremely upset. ‘
Photos from the scene show the cordoned off street swarming with police officers and paramedics.
A police rescue van was also on scene.
A distraught man was seen standing in front of an ambulance speaking to police, who remained at the scene for much of the night.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers.
The latest tragedy comes just two days after the second anniversary of the death of toddler Arikh Hasan, who was left in a car for six hours on a 35C day in Glenfield in Sydney’s south-west in February 2023.
Newaz Hasan bundled his two sons into his car for the morning school run, dropping his eldest at primary school and believing he had dropped his youngest to daycare before returning to their Glenfield home to work.
But when he returned to his car in the afternoon to pick the boys up, his youngest son, Arikh, was still strapped in the back seat.
Arikh had spent six hours stuck in the scorching car on the 35C day while the vehicle was parked in the driveway.
The temperature inside a car can be more than 30C hotter than outside the car, according to the NRMA.
Children trapped inside cars during hot days can become quickly distressed, dehydrated and die from organ failure.