Young children should not be left alone at home, says coroner on 3-year-old boy’s ‘tragic’ death

• A grandmother left her grandson alone and headed to work after failing to wake him up
• He must have climbed through the window while searching for her, State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam said
• Two similar incidents happened last year and the potential for grave harm in leaving children alone at home is enormous, she added

SINGAPORE — In ruling the death of a three-year-old boy as a “tragic misadventure”, a state coroner stressed on Tuesday (Aug 18) that young children should not be left alone at home as the potential for grave harm is enormous.

The boy had fallen from the master bedroom window of a seventh-floor flat in Ang Mo Kio on Feb 18, after his paternal grandmother left him asleep at home with no one else in the flat.

His grandparents looked after him as his father was frequently in jail, while his mother had lived apart from the family since a year after his birth, State Coroner Kamala Ponnampalam noted in her coroner’s inquiry findings.

There was no basis to suspect foul play, and the boy, who was afraid of the dark, must have gone in search of his grandmother before climbing through the window, the coroner added.

The boy’s grandmother gave testimony in the coroner’s court, saying he was very active and frequently ran around the flat, climbing up on the sofa and jumping around.

The 103cm-tall boy, who was two months short of his fourth birthday, liked to stand on the bed in the master bedroom to look out the window, but she had never seen him open it or lean against it.

She believed though, that he could do it and had previously scolded him for trying to reach for the window.

The boy was “big, strong and smart for his age”, knew how to open the bedroom door and push a wooden chair from one end of the house to the other, the grandmother said.

That fateful morning, she left him alone at home for the first time as he appeared tired and was fast asleep. He did not respond to her attempts to rouse him.

A drinks stall assistant, she went to work at a coffee shop located at the ground floor of the block of flats where they live, expecting him to remain sleeping until she returned at 7am.

She said that she usually left the boy in her husband’s care when she was required to open the stall at 5.30am, but the older man was away in Indonesia for work at the time.

On previous similar occasions, she took the boy with her to work as he was afraid of the dark.

She planned to get home at about 7am to take the boy to the childcare centre nearby.

While she had shut the main door before leaving, she did not lock it. The casement window in the master bedroom, which lacked grilles, was closed as the air-conditioner was switched on.

However, the window — located next to the bed — was old and could be opened easily.

At about 6.30am, a fellow resident living on the first floor heard a loud thud. When she looked out the window, she saw the boy lying motionless on the ground and immediately called the police.

His grandmother returned at about 7.10am, minutes after the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

The authorities found imprints consistent with the soles of the boy’s slippers on the air-conditioner compressor ledge outside the master bedroom window.

The boy’s grandfather immediately returned to Singapore that morning after his wife called to inform him of the incident.

In her findings, State Coroner Kamala said that the boy must have put on his slippers, stepped onto the bed to open the window, climbed through it and onto the air-conditioner ledge before falling down.

“The death of (the boy) clearly illustrates the potential harm of leaving a young child alone at home. Young children are known to be impulsive and unpredictable. They lack the cognitive maturity to appreciate the consequences of their actions,” she added.

She noted that two similar incidents took place last year.

In January, a five-year-old boy’s parents inadvertently left him alone in an office unit in Woodlands when they went home at the end of the workday. He died after falling from the window from the eighth-floor office.

Six months later, a six-year-old girl fell to her death from an 11th-storey flat when her mother left her alone at home for almost six hours. They had forgotten to secure the kitchen window, which had no grilles on it.

“As a rule, a young child should not be left alone at home. The potential for grave harm is enormous,” State Coroner Kamala stressed.