SEDDONVILLE TRAGEDY

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 February 1941, Page 4

SEDDONVILLE TRAGEDY

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST r WESTPORT, February 16. The danger of leaving children alone in buildings, especially at night, was commented on by the Coroner (Mr. G. E. J. Taylor), after he had returned a verdict at an inquest at Granity on Saturday, that Kevin William Bandy Clarkin, aged five years, had been accidentally suffocated in a house which was destroyed by fire at Seddonville on Friday night. The unfortunate accident, he said, should be a warning to parents to take the utmost care of children.

Evidence was given by the boy’s mother, Mrs. Mary Frances Clarkin, that when visiting friends near to the house (in which she lived with her son), she was in the habit of leaving him alone after making sure that all fires were extinguished. If she went to any place beyond Seddonville, she left the child in the care of a neighbour. Before leaving to visit neighbours on the night of the tragedy, she had made certain that all fires were out, and she had then left her son to wash himself and go to bed.

To the Coroner: Mrs. Clarkin said that the house was never locked, and the boy knew how to open doors. She was not smoking before leaving the house, but lit a cigarette as she left home. She blew the match out and flicked it out of the front door as she went out.

Alfred Edward Ashton, storekeeper, of Seddonville, said that after the fire had been discovered he helped two other men to get into the cottage. He got through the child’s bedroom window and felt his way to the bed, but could not find the boy. Because the smoke and flames were overpowering he was forced to leave the room. He was not sure if the child was in the house until Mrs. Clarkin arrived, and after the fire had died down the boy’s charred body was found under the remnants of a wire mattress, giving the impression that the child had got under his bed. Dr. J. C. D. Simpson said that he believed that the child had died from suffocation. Evidence was also given by Mr. J. T. Jaulj who discovered the fire, and by Constable S. Paul.