A distraught mother desperately called police to report her car stolen with her two-year-old inside, only to realise she was dead after it rolled into the river ‘because the handbrake was off’.
Kim Rowland was left heartbroken after her daughter Kiara Moore died when her Mini rolled into the River Teifi, west Wales, in March.
Rowland says she had just nipped back into the office of her family business for two minutes and when she returned the car was gone - she originally thought it had been stolen.
The car was found in the river and forensic investigators say her handbrake was not applied when they pulled the car out.
Police officer Caryl Griffiths cried as she told the inquest about diving into the freezing river and described smashing open the car’s window to try and rescue the two-year-old.
“I felt Kiara's tiny body. She floated out of the vehicle into my arms,” Griffiths says.
"As we reached the river bank I took hold over her and lowered her onto the floor, putting her gently on the ground.
"Officers began CPR on her. All I remember is standing there looking at her body on the ground.
"Her head was rolling all around the place and her face was purple."
Kiara was taken to University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, where she was pronounced dead later that evening, according to the Daily Mail.
After Kiara's death, her mother wrote on Facebook: "Due to my own stupidity, I will have to live with the guilt of this for the rest of my life. Mummy loves you baby girl and I'm so sorry."
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