Girl, 5, critical after being locked in car

“Look after our nation’s children.”

That was the appeal of the police’s Special Victims Department head, Supt Claire Guy-Alleyne, as a five-year-old girl was fighting for her life in hospital on Monday evening after being left in a locked vehicle by her aunt on Sunday.

Police reports said her mother left the child in the care of her aunt (her mother’s sister) at their home at Coconut Alley, Siparia around 1.30 pm on Sunday to go to a funeral. The aunt was supposed to bring the child, along with other children, to the funeral at a later time.

However, the mother told police she noticed around 4 pm her daughter was not with her sister at the funeral as planned. When she asked, she was told the child had been  left in the vehicle.

When she went to the vehicle, she noticed it was turned off and locked and saw the girl unconscious in the back seat. The child was taken to the Siparia District Health Facility (SDHF) for treatment before being transferred to the Intensive Care Unit at San Fernando General Hospital.

A report from doctors at the SDHF to police said the child had severe dehydration. Doctors also believed she possibly had heat stroke, aspiration pneumonia and hypoxic brain injury, which all needed further medical investigation at the hospital. While the police report did not contain results on these conditions, it said doctors at the hospital said she was stable and was expected to be removed from the ICU.
Secretary of the Paediatric Society of TT Dr Mariama Alleyne told Newsday children should not be left in a locked car no matter for how long.
“Internationally, numerous children die from heat exposure when left in hot cars. With our recent record high temperatures, children should not be left unattended in cars even for a minute.

“If a child is found in a locked car, it is important to remove the child and get them to a cool environment like an air-conditioned room. Use wet towels or rags or cool water – not ice – to bring the body temperature down as quickly as possible. Get the child to the hospital as soon as possible.”
She said the younger the child, the more sensitive they are to extreme temperature changes.
“So extreme cold as well as extreme heat are even more dangerous for little ones. The effect of heat stroke can be seen in minutes and quickly become irreversible,” she said.

In a phone interview with Newsday yesterday, Guy-Alleyne said the incident is being “aggressively pursued.”
Citing recent incidents stemming from children being left in the care of others, she urged parents to exercise due diligence in selecting people to look after their children.
“Children are not to be left in the care of children at any time. Children must not be left in the care of their peers at any time.
"We are asking parents to do due diligence to ensure that the people they are leaving their children in the care of will care for their children in the same way that you as a parent or caregiver would care for your children. Please be responsible,” she said. “The protection of children is everyone’s business.”

Dr Alleyne also echoed Supt Guy-Alleyne’s call for parents to leave their children with responsible adults.

Newsday visited the family’s Siparia home but was told the child’s mother was at the hospital.

Two weeks ago, two toddlers were found by police alone in a dilapidated house in D’Abadie. The children’s father told Newsday he left them with their godfather when he went to work at 5.30 am. The man said it appeared their godfather had left the children alone when police found them.