Mum of four-year-old who drowned pleads for safer pool fences
A woman is calling for tougher pool fencing regulations after her daughter crawled through a faulty fence and drowned in a neighbour’s pool.
For Morwell mother Rhiannon Egan-Lee, the holiday season, once a time of laughter and family, has been forever marked by trauma.
On December 17, 2024, her four-year-old daughter, Ivy Bella Roze, managed to shift a faulty panel of a wooden boundary fence, sneak through a gap, and jump into the neighbour's pool.
She had not yet learnt to swim.
Ms Egan-Lee leapt into the pool to try to save her daughter, but within minutes, she had already lost consciousness.
Ivy, who had been submerged long enough to suffer severe brain damage, was flown to the Royal Children's Hospital.
After fighting for her life for 11 days, Ivy died on December 28, leaving her family heartbroken.
Rhiannon Egan-Lee says her life has changed since her daughter Ivy died. (Supplied: Rhiannon Egan-Lee)
"The moment I saw her [in the pool], I just felt hollow. I still feel hollow," Ms Egan-Lee said.
"I relive it every day, over and over and over again.
"It has completely devastated not just my household, but my entire immediate family. It has destroyed us; we're hanging on by a thread here."
Ms Egan-Lee, 38, said the whole dynamic of her life changed since her daughter's death.
"Ivy was a strong, kind, independent four-year-old. She spent most of her life dressed as Emma Wiggle, often crying at the washing machine waiting to put it [the costume] straight back on," she said.
"Ivy loved everything spooky. She loved snakes. She was love and kindness in a little yellow bow."
Rhiannon Egan-Lee says her daughter Ivy was her "little superhero". (Supplied: Rhiannon Egan-Lee)
'Extremely traumatic', coroner says
A coronial investigation into Ivy's death revealed that in February 2024, a registered building inspector had identified a non-compliant issue where a timber paling boundary fence had some missing and broken palings "coming away" from the timber rails.
A week later, the inspector returned to the property and assessed that the pool safety barrier was compliant with the regulations, as the palings had been replaced and securely nailed in place.
The pool owner was then issued a certificate of barrier compliance.
However, the day after Ivy's drowning, a Latrobe City Council building surveyor inspected the boundary fence and discovered the timber palings and horizontal railings of the fence were "unsupported and liable to collapse", finding the fence was no longer compliant.