Police are investigating after a one-year-old girl was found dead in a car outside a childcare centre in Sydney’s inner west.
Supt Christine McDonald described the death as an “absolute tragedy” and told reporters the child had allegedly been left inside the vehicle “for an extended period of time on a very hot day here in Sydney”.
New South Wales police were called to reports of an unresponsive child in a vehicle outside a childcare centre on Marana Road in Earlwood at 5.35pm on Tuesday.
Paramedics tried to revive the toddler but she was declared deceased at the scene. An investigation was under way and the cause of death was unknown as of Wednesday morning.
A male occupant of the vehicle, a direct relative of the child, was taken to hospital suffering shock and was helping police with inquiries. Police confirmed on Wednesday morning that the man had not been arrested or charged.
“Once he is able to, we will speak with him to obtain more details,” McDonald said on Tuesday. The child’s mother was also helping police with inquiries and had not been arrested or charged.
Whether the man was attending the childcare centre to pick up the child or was meant to drop her off in the morning had not yet been ascertained. The vehicle was not outside the centre all day, police said.
“The timeline of events … we need to seek that information from people that we’re currently speaking to or waiting to speak to.”
A member of the public who was on the scene when the girl was discovered called triple zero.
McDonald said it was “extremely traumatic event” for the family and friends of the girl, first responders and the wider community.
“No doubt the parents will be extremely upset,” McDonald said. “This has rippling effects right throughout our community because so many of us can put ourselves in a similar situation.”
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said on Wednesday that the death was “completely heartbreaking” and he would be briefed by police.
“I’m devastated for [the family] and I also am thinking about emergency service workers,” he told reporters.
“It’s just a reminder [that] maybe their own life isn’t in jeopardy every single day, but what they have to confront in a typical shift is deeply, deeply – it can be traumatising.”
