A car was feared stolen with a two-year-old girl inside, but was found rolled into a river.
Kiara Moore was found inside a vehicle in the River Teifi, Wales, in March and was later pronounced dead. Kiara had been left alone for two minutes in the car whilst her mother went to get cash. When she returned the car was vanished and the police were called. The inquest at Aberystwyth Justice Centre heard the silver Mini was parked on a slipway outside the family business on 21 March.
CCTV footage showed in the two minutes the car was left the car rolled into the river. PCSO Caryl Griffiths, who dived into the water where the car was located, broke down as she described her efforts to get to Kiara.
She told the inquest: “I ran towards the river bank and could see the car poking out above the surface,”
“I dived head first into the river, the water was freezing cold and I could tell the current was really strong, pulling my head under the water.
“It was dirty and I could not see anything underwater.”
Another police officer helped Ms Griffiths smash the window.
Ms Griffiths said: “I immediately felt Kiara’s body float out of the car into my arms,”
When she got the Kiara’s body to shore another officer performed CPR. Kiara was flown to University hospital of Wales in Cardiff where she was pronounced dead. The inquest was told that Kiara would have drowned within 30 seconds of the car entering the water.
Her father, Jet Moore, said there was no issues with the Mini other than normal wear and tear and said Kiara knew not to play with the controls, but she had no interest in them anyways. The vehicle was found in third gear with no hand brake applied.
It is a probability that the handbrake was not set when Kiara was left in the car. No charges have been made.
