The three-year-old tragically died in February last year.
An Australian childcare provider has been fined $71,000 over the death of a toddler left on a hot bus whilst in its care last year.
Goodstart Early Learning pleaded guilty to three charges relating to the death of three-year-old Maliq Nicholas Lloyd Namok-Malamoo, including failing to supervise and protect a child from harm and failing to ensure documents were accurate.
The toddler, known to his family as "Meeky," was left on a minibus ran by the creche for hours in February last year, during which Australia was in its hot summer season.
The Queensland non-profit childcare provider will pay a fine of $35,000 each for the two most serious charges and $1,000 for the charge relating to the accuracy of documents, as well as court costs.
The driver of the vehicle Meeky was left on has also been jailed for manslaughter.
Acting Magistrate Ann Gummow described the incident as "deeply traumatic for the family, community, Goodstart staff and early childhood sector."
"The issue here is that procedures were not followed and staff knew this," she told the court,
per reports.
"It's hard to imagine anything more serious than this."
Speaking outside the court, Goodstart CEO Julia Davison said: "When it happened on that day at Goodstart we were devastated and we continue to be impacted by what happened on that day, but how we feel is nothing compared to how the family must feel about all of this."
Australia's Department of Education said in a statement that "work with the early childhood education and care sector to promote safe transportation" would continue.
Every summer, news reports emerge about children dying from heatstroke and/or dehydration after being left in a hot vehicle. While some cases show negligence, others are a
display of psychological strain.
