A partially deaf Auckland woman has spoken of the devastatin ..
A partially deaf Auckland woman has spoken of the devastating moment she discovered the body of 8-year-old Gurshabad Singh in her backyard swimming pool, saying she never heard the autistic schoolboy enter her property before he drowned.
Gurshabad died in November last year after escaping from a school transport van in Te Atatū South and making his way through nearby properties before ending up in the pool.
The woman told the NZ Herald that she was working from home that afternoon and had no idea the child had entered her yard.
“I thought I’d check on the washing and my granddaughter’s pants were wet, so I thought I’d hang them out on the balcony under the sun,” she said.
As she stepped outside, she noticed something in the pool.
She added: “I saw his body submerged under the water and it took me a few seconds to take in what I’d seen … I thought, ‘F**k, is that really what I think it is?’
“I nearly had a heart attack. I thought my grandson had died.”
The shocked woman immediately called emergency services and rushed to check on her grandson. She was afraid that it was her grandson floating in the water.
The woman said she and her family had heard nothing unusual before the discovery.
She said: “We didn’t hear anything. I’m deaf, and my grandson was asleep, and there was no shouting or anything.”
Realising the child was not a member of her family, she ran to a neighbouring property and desperately called out for help.
