Police are investigating after a one-year-old baby girl was found dead in a car outside a childcare centre in Sydney’s inner west.
Supt Christine McDonald from Burwood police area command described the incident as an “absolute tragedy” and told reporters the baby was allegedly left inside the vehicle “for an extended period of time on a very hot day here in Sydney”.
New South Wales police were called to reports of an unresponsive child in a vehicle outside a childcare centre on Marana Road in Earlwood at 5.35pm on Tuesday afternoon.
Paramedics attempted to revive the baby, but she was declared deceased at the scene. An investigation was underway and the cause of death was unknown as of Tuesday morning, but McDonald said police believed the baby was left inside the vehicle for an extended period of time.
A male occupant of the vehicle, a direct relative of the baby, was taken to hospital suffering shock and was assisting police with inquiries. Police confirmed on Wednesday morning the man had not been arrested or charged.
“Once he is able to, we will speak with him to obtain more details,” McDonald said on Tuesday. The baby’s mother was also assisting police with inquiries, and had also not been arrested or charged.
Whether the man was attending the childcare centre to pick up the baby, or was meant to drop the baby off in the morning, was forming part of police inquiries. The vehicle was not outside the centre all day, police said.
“The timeline of events … we need to seek that information from people that we’re currently speaking to or waiting to speak to.”
A member of the public who was on scene when the baby was discovered made the call to triple zero.
McDonald said the incident was an “extremely traumatic event” for the first responders who attended, the friends and family of the baby girl, and to the wider community.
“No doubt the parents will be extremely upset,” McDonald said. “This has rippling effects right throughout our community because so many of us can put ourselves in a similar situation.”
