By Rachel Morton
Auckland council will fit safety devices on all man-hole covers deemed to be at risk of coming open during heavy rain.
The promise was given during the final day of the inquest into the death of west Auckland toddler Aisling Symes, whose body was found in a storm drain in 2009.
Aisling’s parents came to their daughter's inquest looking for answers and left feeling as though some had been given.
“As painful as it has been to hear the details of their cherished daughter they take comfort in those steps that those people who have participated have put forward to stop the tragedy occurring in the future,” says police lawyer Chris Morris.
The court learned that Aisling's mother had looked away from her daughter for just seconds when she wandered off and stepped on a loose manhole cover which flipped. Aisling fell in and drowned.
Police spent a week looking for her and suspected foul play.
Several factors were identified at the inquest as contributing to her death, including the council not properly following up on reports of the manhole cover coming loose.
A council representative said that interim solutions put in place had been inadequate, and the he wished things had been done another way.
One thing that could have been done differently was fitting a grate over the manhole. 42 of west Auckland's "at risk" manholes have since had them fitted at a cost of about $500 each.
It would cost $20 million to put a grate on every manhole in west Auckland.
The council says that part of that cost would be borne by developers, and that compulsory grills could be made a condition of the building contract.
A Civil engineer told the inquest that Auckland Council has made several changes to its processes since Aisling's death and that other councils should make changes too.
Aisling’s parents told reporters they are absolutely shattered. They said they just wanted to go home and have some time to digest the evidence that was presented at the inquest.
Tell us the lessons you think councils can learn from Aisling’s death.
3 News
source: newshub archive
