Baby Smothered To Death After Father Has Heart Attack And Collapses On Top Of Her
A one-year-old baby girl was smothered to death by her own father after he suffered a heart attack and collapsed on top of her, according to Mirror.
On June 11, Emma Tester, 39, of Northfleet, Kent, returned home from work as a dental nurse to find her 43-year-old husband, David, lying unresponsive on the floor with their daughter, Georgie, beneath him. She made several attempts to move him and when she couldn’t, she ran to a neighbor’s house for help.
dtn uK: Gravesend man suffers fatal heart attack and collapses onto baby daughter: David Tester, 43, was holdi… http://t.co/gsBFBkna68
— DTN UK (@DTNUK) June 29, 2015
Neighbors were later able to lift him off of his daughter and an ambulance was immediately called to the scene. Upon their arrival, both father and daughter were transported to a nearby hospital where they were pronounced dead.
After an investigation, it was uncovered that David was brushing his daughter’s teeth in the bathroom when he suffered a heart attack and collapsed on top of his daughter.
“David and Georgie had been seen alive and well earlier that morning before mum Emma left for work,” said Detective Gavin Moss. “David had taken the day off from his role as a self-employed electrician to take care of the children.”
“He was in the process of brushing Georgie’s teeth in the bathroom when he collapsed, and his daughter could not move from beneath him.”
“It is the opinion of the police that this was a most tragic accident.”
“At 4:45pm Emma came home from work and noticed the house was a lot quieter than normal so shouted for her husband but got no response.”
“She found her husband unresponsive, lying on top of Georgie in the bathroom.”
Just before the father collapsed on top of his daughter, he suffered a heart attack that resulted from heart disease, which was common in his family. According to Pathologist Dr. David Rouse, “A clot in his heart had caused him to suddenly collapse.”
After performing an autopsy on the child, the pathologist concluded that she died of asphyxiation.
“Georgie had minor marks on her body but the bleeds on her face were common signs of asphyxia and compression,” Dr. Rouse continued.
“He had an area of scarring on the wall of his heart. There was a scar tissue so it is impossible to tell but usually you can see that at three months. It could have been there months or it could have been there 19 years.”
After further investigation, Coroner Roger Hatch concluded that the fate of the baby girl who was smothered to death by her father was accidental. He said: “It seems to me that the summary of evidence that this is a most tragic accident is correct.”
“I propose that the death of Georgie Elizabeth Tester was an accident.
“I extend my sympathies to the family for your dreadful loss.”
Detective Moss stated that the Tester family “were by all accounts, a close and loving family in a safe and happy home, and this is a most tragic accident.”
[Image courtesy of Danny Cain / Flickr / Creative Commons]
