The killing of a child by her father may have been prevented had a 111 dispatcher coded the call correctly.
File image. Photo: 123rf
Two-year-old Nevaeh Ager died at the hands of her father Aaron Izett in March last year.
Her body was found on the Maketu Estuary the day after her great-grandmother made an emergency call to police at 5pm on Wednesday, 20 March.
Nikki Sturgess visited the address Izett was living at with Nevaeh and rang the police to say the house was in a mess and Izett ''was off his brain''.
She told them he had attacked her and her husband and told them to ''F-off''.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) said the call taker coded the event incorrectly, gave inaccurate advice and failed to record detail that may have affected the police response.
Dispatchers also failed to do appropriate checks and pass on relevant information.
The call taker advised them that police did not have ''lawful powers'' to intervene, as the great-grandparents did not have custody.
Police did not send anyone to visit the house that evening.
The next day police received a call about concerning behaviour at the same address and when officers attended, a naked Izett ran off into the estuary near the house.
After a stand-off for several hours police found Nevaeh's body weighed down by rocks in the water.
Izett was arrested. A jury found him guilty of murder at a trial earlier this month. He will be sentenced in February.
The IPCA said as it was not known exactly what time the girl died, it was therefore not possible to say whether police may have prevented her being harmed if they had made a welfare check shortly after Sturgess' call.
It said based on the information the call taker had recorded, police responded appropriately.
The police said they let Nevaeh and her family down.
Assistant commissioner Tusha Penny said had the information been recorded properly and shared, police may have had an opportunity to intervene.
''We will never know whether we could have prevented this tragic outcome, and for this we are deeply sorry.''
''Police come to work every day to keep out communities safe, but on this occasion, we could and should have done more.''
Police met with Nevaeh's family on Monday to apologise in person and discuss the police response to the IPCA findings.
Penny said the call taker and dispatchers involved were receiving ongoing support and training to ensure they were better equipped to respond to future incidents.
