Gary Wayne Membrey Gardiner

Young Boys Killed Baby. BLENHEIM, Fri, (PA.)— Evidence given at the inquiry yesterday into the death on December 2 of the Si-months-old son of Mr and Mrs Ross Gardiner, of Churchill Street, Blenheim, disclosed that the death was due to the irresponsible conduct of a neighbour's children—two boys aged four and a half and three. The coroner (Mr I. J. Hill) said that a study of the evidence made it clear that the two children went into the baby’s room during the mother's absence and rolled the baby out of its cot on to the floor. This would account for the injuries received by the baby—-a bruised ear and fractured skull. The two children then apparently took the baby into the sitting room and rolled in on the floor. Then, said the coroner, they got the idea that the baby needed a bath and they took it into the bathroom, turned on the hot and cold taps, and put the baby into the bath. The child received serious' scalds. The mother was informed of what was happening by a girl aged 11, and rushed home to find the baby unconscious in the bath. It died soon after admission to hospital. The coroner said the problem of the boys concerned would have to be seriously considered. It seemed to him to be a case for the Child Welfare Department. Source: Northern Advocate (16 December 1949, p. 2) https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19491216.2.13