CHILD SUFFOCATED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 137, 11 June 1937, Page 6

CHILD SUFFOCATED

i CAT LIES ON ITS FACE i V ERDICT AT INQUEST ’.Own Correspondent* TAIHAPE, June 10. | Aller hearing evidence at an inquest ’ concerning the death of Valerie Joy Pearson, aged 41 months, infant daughter of Mr and Mrs E. H. Pearson, of Ruahino, near Mangaweka, the district coroner, Mr E. Loader, returned a verdict that deceased lost her life through being suffocated by a cat, which had entered her cot and lain across her face. The coroner expressed* deep sympathy with the I child’s parents in their sad loss. The inquest was held at the resi- • donee of Mr and Mrs Pearson. “About noon on June 3 I placed i deceased in a Plunket cot in the bedI sitting room situated in the front peril ion of the house,’’ said the child’s mother. “I had fed the child and ; placed her in the cot to have her i usual daily sleep. About 2.10 in the j afternoon I went to the cot to give ’ deceased food. As I approached the ’’cot I sav. a cat on the child’s face. J The child was lying on her back with 'her hands down at her sides. She was covered to the waist with blankets. I I chased the cat off the deceased and ; then saw that she was dead .... I laid not hear the child cry out at any time while she was in the cot. The window of the room in which the cot was placed, was open and I noticed cat’s feet marks on the sewing machine under the window. There were tome more m&rks on a sideboard alongside the cot. I know this cat (iumps in and out of the window. I j have seen it do so. The cat is very i quiet and plays with our children. I have seen this cat on some occasions lyiflg at the foot of the Plunket cot •| and the deceased used to play with r it while she was in the cot. It has »I never gone near the child’s head pre‘lviously to my knowledge. I am sure 1 . ihat the cat was lying across the '. child’s face. When I put the child in •, the cot I closed the door of the room 5 1 and none of my other children were > j near the room. The door was still •; closed when I went to deceased at • 1 2.10 p.m.” To the Coroner: Whenever we saw • I the cat in the cot we alwa/3 chased •'it away. ■ Constable De vis. of Mangaweka, 11 stated during the course of his evidence. that he made an inspection of the room in which deceased met her ' death. He found numerous muddy marks made by cat’s feet on the out‘side window sill, on a machine just ! inside the window, on the floor below (the machine, and on the sideboard ; which was alongside the rot. The j window was partly open. From the ‘marks it was evident that a cat had I jumped up on to the outside window ' | sill, walked on to the top of the sew- ' ing machine, and then jumped on to (the sideboa'd. It had then only to , - walk on to the Plunket cot. ' j Dr. D. L. Sinclair gave evidence that ! he had conducted a post mortem examinauon and considered that death '' was due to suffocation. The condition \ i in which he found the body was quite r I consistent with the cause suggested, L I namely a cat having lain across (he J child’s face. , | Evidence was also given by Ernest Henry Pearson, father of deceased. Th** coroner returned a verdict as '; stated.