Aisling Symes - found dead near her home

Woman ruled out in NZ toddler death case


A New Zealand mayor says questions will be answered on the tragic drain death of Aisling Symes.

AAP Enlarge photo

A woman last seen with New Zealand toddler Aisling Symes has been ruled out of the police inquiry into the little girl's death.

Police spoke to the Asian woman who was seen walking her dog with the two-year-old on Monday last week, about the time she disappeared from a house in the west Auckland suburb of Henderson.

An intense police search ended on Monday night when her body was found in a stormwater drain at the next property.

Her death will be referred to the Auckland coroner but it is believed she drowned after getting into the drain through an access pipe.

When police first arrived they said the 20kg manhole cover on the access pipe was 80-100mm ajar.

The toddler's body was found 36 metres along the drain from the access pipe.

Last week as they searched without finding any sign of her, police said it was highly likely Aisling had been kidnapped and the Asian woman was crucial to their inquiry.

Police said on Wednesday they had found the woman and interviewed her but the inquiry had no further interest in her.

Police spokeswoman Kaye Calder would not say why the woman did not approach police after the search began, or when it was highlighted in the news media that police were looking for her.

Police were "satisfied she is unable to assist with the disappearance of Aisling Symes", said Inspector Gary Davey, who led the police hunt.

"I'm unable to provide specific comment on the woman's discussions with us but she is no longer part of our inquiries relating to Aisling's disappearance."

Police acknowledged their search for the Asian woman caused some concern in the community "but it was a necessary part of trying to find Aisling".

"We sincerely thank all the many members of the public who have delivered messages, beautiful cards prepared by children, flowers and other tributes.

"Many of these messages have come to us here at Henderson Police. Our team and Aisling's family appreciate these wonderful gestures."

Family tributes and music in memory of a “cherished little girl” is to be included in a funeral service for Aisling Symes this Friday.

The service will be held 11am at the Ranui Baptist Church, where the Symes family worship.

The two-year-old’s death has gripped the local community, and Aisling’s parents Angela and Alan have agreed to open the service to the public.

The family has received many gestures of sympathy and support from people – many whom are unknown to them.

“It is not just our family who are grieving for Aisling. So many people are sharing our loss and it is for this reason we are happy for members of the public to attend,” the family said in a statement released through the police.

A private cremation will follow the service.

Aisling’s body was discovered in a drain, 200m from where she was last seen, on Monday night.

The discovery came almost one week to the very hour since she went missing on Longburn Rd in Henderson.

Results from a post-mortem examination yesterday revealed her death was consistent with a drowning.

Police have ruled out foul play.

3 News

Cremation!!! Isn't that unusual for a child as young as two?

Council could be prosecuted - lawyer
A lawyer specialising in commercial litigation says the Waitakere City Council could be prosecuted over the girl's death.

Residents on Longburn Road say they have made numerous complaints about the drain in the past. Flooding would sometimes cause a 20kg manhole cover to come off.

Lawyer Tim Rainey says the Department of Labour may choose to prosecute if the council is found to have been negligent.

Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey has ordered an inquiry into the council's response to complaints about the drain.

Prime Minister John Key supports that, but is not ruling out a Government inquiry.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/10/14/1245cdc28328


And so they should be prosecuted. Council's get away with this sort of crap all the time, it's about time they took the can for their cock ups.

arachnidae wrote:I still stand by my earlier beliefs that Angela Symes was not telling the full story, i suspect that Aisling had been out of her eyeline for more than a few moments. Even so, if this is the case she will have to live with that knowledge for the rest of her life and i really do feel terribly sorry for her. I also feel deeply sad for Aislings elder sister, i know how much my daughter of 6 loves & adores her younger cousins. Aislings death is a terrible tragedy, and one that may have been avoided in many different ways.

But, the sad fact is regardless of what we should or shouldn't do we, as parents, we can't watch our children every waking minute, it just isn't feasible.

No, arachnidea, we can not watch our children every waking minute, sad to say but that is true.

But what we can do is: not let the little babies walk alone outside the house,
we can lock the door, we can lock the garden gate.
That is what we definitely can do.

I would have done it, without any doubt.
But I have ever been a cautious careful mother.

Lilemor wrote:

arachnidae wrote:I still stand by my earlier beliefs that Angela Symes was not telling the full story, i suspect that Aisling had been out of her eyeline for more than a few moments. Even so, if this is the case she will have to live with that knowledge for the rest of her life and i really do feel terribly sorry for her. I also feel deeply sad for Aislings elder sister, i know how much my daughter of 6 loves & adores her younger cousins. Aislings death is a terrible tragedy, and one that may have been avoided in many different ways.

But, the sad fact is regardless of what we should or shouldn't do we, as parents, we can't watch our children every waking minute, it just isn't feasible.

No, arachnidea, we can not watch our children every waking minute, sad to say but that is true.

But what we can do is: not let the little babies walk alone outside the house,
we can lock the door, we can lock the garden gate.
That is what we definitely can do.

I would have done it, without any doubt.
But I have ever been a cautious careful mother.

Me too, Lilemor. When my own children were little our garden had a lockable gate so that the children could not leave the back garden. Even then, they were never in the garden by themselves when they were very little. I now have a grandson, who is three. He stays overnight with me occasionally and since my garden is not child-proof, the doors are kept locked.

MaryB wrote:I cannot see why everybody was screaming abduction from the start. How many times are we be told abductions by strangers are extremely scarce. Much more likely is the child wandered off. Why was this never considered with Madeleine. There was no evidence of an abductor yet we are led to believe she was abducted. I read that there was a lot of building work going on with holes in the road etc. Yet this didn't seem to have been an option. I wonder why not.

Simply because there is nothing to be personal gained in exploiting every day tragic childhood "accidents" but everything to be gained in exploiting the rarer and much more headline-garbbing "stranger" child abductions , including furthering one's career, organisational reputation and that all important "funding" that NGO's are always crying out for. I did read on one of Gerry's blogs that PACT were wanting a new head office in the UK so it is fair to assume there has been and probably still is a certain amount of "back-scratching" going on in this case.

lynn wrote:

dinah wrote:

dinah wrote:My own quote://
Could it be after seeing the rolling eyes of the mother and the new cuddlebear in the interview?//end of quote.

I want to take back this sentence, because I saw the brother of the mother in an interview with almost the same mimique. Maybe it is in the family such mimic in the face, I am sorry that I said it.

I post it here again.

Police have not ruled out "foulplay"... yet, is the latest news this morning.

You are not alone of course in thinking something is wrong here.

Now, from today:

http://www.3news.co.nz/Coroner-opens-inquiry-into-Aislings-death/tabid/423/articleID/125401/cat/65/Default.aspx

...Results from a post-mortem examination yesterday revealed Aisling's death was consistent with a drowning.
Police have ruled out foul play...

Lilemor wrote:

arachnidae wrote:I still stand by my earlier beliefs that Angela Symes was not telling the full story, i suspect that Aisling had been out of her eyeline for more than a few moments. Even so, if this is the case she will have to live with that knowledge for the rest of her life and i really do feel terribly sorry for her. I also feel deeply sad for Aislings elder sister, i know how much my daughter of 6 loves & adores her younger cousins. Aislings death is a terrible tragedy, and one that may have been avoided in many different ways.

But, the sad fact is regardless of what we should or shouldn't do we, as parents, we can't watch our children every waking minute, it just isn't feasible.

No, arachnidea, we can not watch our children every waking minute, sad to say but that is true.

But what we can do is: not let the little babies walk alone outside the house,
we can lock the door, we can lock the garden gate.
That is what we definitely can do.

I would have done it, without any doubt.
But I have ever been a cautious careful mother.

and of course Lilemor i agree, as an ever cautious mother too :)

Lilemor wrote:

lynn wrote:

dinah wrote:

dinah wrote:My own quote://
Could it be after seeing the rolling eyes of the mother and the new cuddlebear in the interview?//end of quote.

I want to take back this sentence, because I saw the brother of the mother in an interview with almost the same mimique. Maybe it is in the family such mimic in the face, I am sorry that I said it.

I post it here again.

Police have not ruled out "foulplay"... yet, is the latest news this morning.

You are not alone of course in thinking something is wrong here.

Now, from today:

http://www.3news.co.nz/Coroner-opens-inquiry-into-Aislings-death/tabid/423/articleID/125401/cat/65/Default.aspx

...Results from a post-mortem examination yesterday revealed Aisling's death was consistent with a drowning.
Police have ruled out foul play...

Fair enough. I am glad to have been proved wrong, although I did believe the parents' behaviour was a bit dodgy. Poor wee Aisling, she must have been terrified. The wee soul is in a happier place now. I just hope that the Council have learned some lessons from this tragedy.

I assume that the police will now investigate further.

...An inquiry has been opened by Acting Chief Coroner Garry Evans into the death of Aisling Symes...

...Mr Evans said an inquest into the cause and circumstances of her death would be held later....

...A team of around 30 police staff were continuing background inquiries and continuing to investigate the scene in preparation for the Coroner, Mr Davey said....

All from today: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2963235/Inquiry-into-Aisling-Symes-death

AND

...Still to be explained was whether someone moved a 20kg manhole cover over the drain in which the toddler was believed to have drowned...

...While it was not thought the gap was enough for a child to squeeze through, Harvey said that was one question the council now had to answer. 'So what happened? That child had to go down that drain,' he said. 'She is small but she is not that small and then someone has got to close it (the manhole cover) to that degree after she is in the drain.'...

from today: http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=382777


There are still many questions IMO.

The drain cover is a puzzle ! Anyone who innocently put it back would have said so straight away as soon as they heard that a toddler had gone missing !!
But it appears no-one has owned up ! How then can the police rule out foul play without knowing who replaced it and when ???
Seems peculiar that they can rule out foul play without having the answer to that especially after such a short investigation ! If she had been my little girl I would be pressing the police for answers ,as someone knows how it got replaced .

A very sad outcome; I'd really hoped it was some sort of hoax and Aisling would turn up safe and well, but sadly it wasn't. Obviously there are questions still to be answered, including why something wasn't done about the drain following the earlier complaints, also who replaced the drain cover.

However, I agree with the posters who say it's better not to allow young children near these obvious dangers. My sister looks after her young granddaughters every Friday and she keeps both front and back doors locked while they're in the house with her. She lives on a busy road and knows if they got out of the house they could end up out of the garden (she has a wall and gate, but the eldest could climb these) and be hit by a car. No system is infallible, but doors kept locked certainly help ensure safety.

Its very sad, is it possible that the little girl fell in the water and the current pulled her to where she ended up?.

As she fell in head first I pray that she knocked herself out so that she didn't experience the terror .Bless her !

enigma wrote:As she fell in head first I pray that she knocked herself out so that she didn't experience the terror .Bless her !

That's what I am hoping and praying for, that she went quickly and did not suffer.

The mysterious Asian woman seen with Aisling Symes was mentally unwell and has a history of trying to lure children into cars with lollies.

The Herald has learned the woman was from the Philippines, had a dog and fitted the general description given by the 9-year-old who saw her approach the toddler just after 5pm last Monday week.

The woman was identified as police profiled "persons of concern" living near Longburn Rd in Henderson, where Aisling went missing.

When a large-scale search did not find the 2-year-old, police believed she might have been the victim of an "opportunistic abduction".

As the woman was the last person seen with the toddler, she was their strongest lead.

Throughout the investigation, inquiry head Inspector Gary Davey repeatedly said police were keeping an open mind, but urged the Asian woman to come forward.

On Monday night, Aisling's body was found in a stormwater pipe close to the house of her deceased grandparents in Longburn Rd.


Police then said they had located the Asian woman, but refused to identify her.

Detectives spoke to the woman on Tuesday night, and Mr Davey said police were "satisfied she's unable to help us further".

He refused to discuss the conversation and said the woman was no longer part of the investigation.

Hmmmm...



ETA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10603535

so if she had a history of trying to entice children into cars, why did the police have to appeal for 'an Asian woman' to come forward?

when all the time they could have been pounding at her door, as presumably she was in their database

After interviewing her and finding she could be of no further help, thank goodness the police had the sense and compassion to withhold the identity of this mentally ill Asian lady from the public, or she may well have been burned at the stake by now .

Who is the 9yr old child . ?Who told the police that children were lured into car'S with lollipops??

She is a child that lives in the same street as Aisling's grandparents did. She reported that she saw the woman following Aisling down the road.

Shocking! One moment the child is behind the mother, the next she is gone. In a short space of time the tot has fallen into a drain. What made the police look more thoroughly? Did the woman seen with Aisling do something?

I haven't seen much about this since the little girls body was found. Has it been ruled to be an accident and the case is now closed?

The case has been referred to the Coroner now. The little girl had her funeral this morning we hear. How would anyone ever recover losing a child.

They don't, I personally know two families who both lost a child, and they never, ever recover.

They're certainly not sleeping normally, setting up Funds and coming out of a Church all smiles, only days after the event.

I think there could be more to this in the future.

Again, the skills of a dog.
The dog has been the key in the Aisling-case.
I´m really touched.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10605284

Trusty dog a key player in Aisling search
4:00AM Sunday Oct 25, 2009
By Anna Rushworth and Portia Mao

Rex Wahrlich with Rusty. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A trusty border collie cross has been revealed as a key player in the tragic search and discovery of toddler Aisling Symes' body.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey has personally written to 63-year-old Rex Wahrlich, owner of 5-year-old Rusty, thanking him for the canine's part in the search last week.

When the toddler went missing, Wahrlich wanted to help. He first joined the search in Riverpark Cres with Rusty on October 7, two days after the 2-year-old went missing.

He spent five hours walking around the area looking for her. Five days later he returned with Rusty to Longburn Rd, where Aisling was last seen, and was intrigued by the dog's behaviour.

Rusty was suspicious about the drain on the property. "The dog started going off and tried to pull me down to that area."

Seeing the area around the drain manhole was flooded, Wahrlich instead walked Rusty around the back of nearby Pomaria Rd.

He said the drain water was "bubbling up", indicating the drain was blocked.

Rusty was also behaving strangely, yelping at the water.

"She talks to me," Wahrlich said. "I let her off the chain and she went down to the river where the drain was flowing."

Wahrlich said Rusty was showing a lot of interest in the water coming out from the drain. "I spoke to a police officer and I told him it needed investigating but they didn't seem too interested."

Rusty's behaviour weighed on his mind and he called the police hotline with his concerns. When he couldn't get through, he called Waitakere City Council and said he was worried about the drain.

The council passed on the information to police and later that day the police searched the drain. Aisling's body was found about 8pm.

Wahrlich said the discovery of Aisling's body filled him with sadness but he was also relieved the ordeal was over for her parents and family.

He is pleased Rusty was helpful in the search. "My dog is part of the family, she's a brilliant dog. This dog would give her life for me."

After Aisling's body was found, Bob Harvey wrote to thank Wahrlich. "I thank you for bringing your dog to join the search and I am sure that your dog helped to locate the drain," wrote Harvey.

The story of Wahrlich and Rusty has made headlines in the Irish Daily Mail - Aisling's father Alan's home country.

Meanwhile, Waitakere City Council says it will release a report this week into its management of the drain. Residents say they had complained about the drain flooding before Aisling disappeared.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY