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Toddler suffered severe injuries in ‘tragic accident’ at New Zealand playground, coroner finds

Digital Staff
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A three-year-old girl died after her father fell on top of her at a New Zealand playground, in what has been described as a “tragic accident”.

Amberlie Pennington-Foley had been using the playground near her Upper Hutt home on August 27, 2020, when tragedy struck.

A coroner’s report has revealed Amberlie had been sitting on the highest point of the Supernova Ring - a piece of playground equipment that features a large slanted, rotating ring - as her father, Robert Foley, gently moved it side to side.

“After repeating this sequence of sideways steps one way and then the other a few times, Mr Foley started to lose his balance,” Coroner Peter Ryan wrote, according to New Zealand Herald.

As he fell to the ground, the wheel rotated and pulled Amberlie off too, seeing his full weight land on top of her.

Amberlie Pennington-Foley.
Amberlie Pennington-Foley. Credit: Give A Little

He took her to a nearby medical clinic, where staff called an ambulance but she couldn’t be saved.

The report revealed she had suffered severe injuries.

‘Tragic accident’

Ryan said her death was not because of any fault or defect of the equipment itself, nor was there any evidence her father had been operating the equipment in a dangerous or reckless manner.

“Amberlie’s death was a tragic accident in the true sense of the word,” he wrote.

He gave no recommendations or comments but sent his condolences to Amberlie’s family.

The couple had moved to New Zealand from the UK almost 10 years ago to set up a new life for themselves and to start a family.

In a fundraiser, the family said they had been left “absolutely devastated”.