Tragedy in park pond
A two-year-old boy died after drowning in a pond at a Tipton park, minutes after going there with his family to enjoy an afternoon's play, an inquest has heard.
Black Country Coroner Robin Balmain today said the death of Kasam Azzad was a lesson to be learned for every family.
The inquest was told that Kasam went to Victoria Park with his mother Jermila Begum and brothers and sister.
The little boy raced ahead with his brothers to play football while his sister held back and walked with their mother.
Kasam's brother Amar, who was 14 at the time of the incident in June last year, told the coroner that when they arrived he gave his little brother a ball to play with while he and his other brothers played football with some friends.
It was just a couple of minutes later that the young boy was spotted in the boating pond.
The coroner said: "It is very easy to see how the family could be lulled into a false sense of security, they were doing nothing more than lots of other families do in going to the park and enjoying themselves.
"There is a lesson to be learned for everyone with a responsibility for looking after a child that constant vigilance is necessary."
He recorded a verdict that the youngster, of Park Lane East, Tipton, died accidentally.
