An Australian coroner has stated that the death of a two-year-old girl, who was crushed by a television set, was “preventable” following an inquest.
Jasmine Lilian Cammilleri was tragically crushed to death at her Western Australian home after she pulled a 37-inch LED television on top of herself in February 2013.
The toddler’s mother, Megan Cammilleri, found the two-year-old lying on her back underneath the appliance after hearing the child screaming. The inquest heard that Jasmine had pulled the television set down after climbing onto a cabinet.
Brisbane’s Courier Mail reports that Mrs. Cammilleri, who has two older children, informed the inquest into her daughter’s death that Jasmine was “not afraid of anything” but had been previously warned about climbing on the cabinet in question, and other furniture. The heartbroken mum said she thought the television was “light weight” but underestimated the risk to her child’s safety by not securing the appliance.
The inquest also heard that a few days before Jasmine’s death, mum Megan had pushed the television back thinking her daughter would be less interested in it if the screen was further away. Coroner Ros Fogliani released her findings on Wednesday:
“Whilst Ms Cammilleri’s intention had been to make it safer for Jasmine, in retrospect it may have ended up creating a space in front of the television set, with enough room for Jasmine to climb on.
Most parents will have experienced a young child’s attraction to the moving images, but with television sets becoming flatter and lighter, the risk of them falling in the vicinity of a child, and the damage they can do, may not be apprehended.
Whilst anchoring a television set to a fixed point does not replace direct adult supervision in the case of young children, it is a safety measure that ought to be pursued.”
The coroner’s court found the cause of death to be an accidental chest injury. However Ms. Fogliani also said that Jasmine’s death was preventable and hoped that the inquest would draw the public’s attention to the potential risks that unstable television sets pose to children.
