A two year old girl died after falling into a pond when her mum and grandma tended to their horses. Masie Lomax-Newton was at her family’s farm with her younger brother, mum Emma Lomax-Newton, 30, and gran Cindy Molyneux, 52.
But the trip ended in tragedy when the little girl was left to play alone before falling into a pond and dying later, reports Manchester Evening News.
CCTV footage captured Masie splashing in puddles, running back and forth around the farm and joining her gran before going to the pond by herself on November 8, 2021.
Meanwhile the women – who both pleaded guilty to child neglect – mucked out their horses and did chores at the farm in Atherton, Greater Manchester.
Prosecutor Rachel Shenton told Manchester Crown Court about occasions when Masie was out of sight of both women for a number of minutes before coming back into view.
She said: “Masie was seen there alone for four minutes between 12.18pm and 12.23pm, splashing in puddles.
“At 12.22pm she then goes back to the farm and is playing by herself before wandering towards a muck heap.
“Then from 12.47pm to 12.59pm she is seen walking to the right side of the pond before falling in.”
Molyneux was then spotted looking for Masie along with mum Lomax-Newton before they found her at 1.18pm that day.
The court heard that she had been in the pond for 19 minutes and out of sight and unattended for 33 minutes.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and Masie was taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital where she was treated for a global hypoxic brain injury. However, the young girl tragically died the following day with her cause of death being recorded as bronchopneumonic brain injury as a result of drowning.
Molyneux admitted to cops that Masie had been out of her sight for 10 minutes and later said that she had a large responsibility for looking after the children.
Lomax-Newton said her mum looked after the children whilst on the farm – and said she had seen Masie 10 minutes before they found her.
Mitigating for Molyneux Rachel Cooper said the harm caused was “permanent and palpable” and that “the family has to live with the loss of Masie far beyond any sentence.”
Gwen Henshaw, mitigating for Lomax-Newton, said: “What actually happened that day was that each of the defendants thought Masie was being looked after by the other and they were unable to keep a proper accurate record.
“She has been punished beyond any sentence the court can impose.”
Judge Nicholas Dean KC, presiding over the case, said: “What happened here could have happened to almost any mother or grandmother, even the most caring and careful.
“A child left unsupervised for one minute can cause themselves serious harm, just as a child left for half an hour may come to no harm at all.”
She added: “There was no malevolence here, just a caution that you cannot ever be too careful.”
Lomax-Newton and Molyneux were both sentenced to a 12 month community order and 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirement days.
