Portsmouth girl's balcony fall death was accident, says coroner
An eight-year-old girl fell 18m (60ft) to her death from the cluttered balcony of a sixth-floor flat after persuading her mother to let her play outside, an inquest heard.
Minnie-Rae Dunn died from catastrophic injuries in the fall from the balcony, which was crammed with eight bin bags of clothes and pieces of furniture.
Her mother, Rebecca Dunn, told her inquest she initially told 'sassy' Minnie-Rae that she could not play on the balcony, but ended up giving in because 'I'm a sucker for her eyes'.
On the day of the tragedy, Dunn had smoked cannabis, which she used to help her with her anxiety, the inquest heard.
Jason Pegg, area coroner for Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, ruled that Minnie-Rae's death was an accident.
The inquest at Portsmouth coroner's court, Hants, was told that Minnie-Rae lived with her grandmother, Dorothy Kenney, at the time of the accident last August.
The youngster would often visit her mother, who lived in a flat in the Pickwick House tower block in Portsmouth.
During the inquest, Dunn was asked how often Minnie-Rae would play on the balcony. She replied: 'Not all the time, but sometimes.'
The inquest heard Minnie-Rae sometimes coloured and painted on the balcony, which had a wall that was 1.5m (5ft) high.
Dunn said a pouffe that was usually positioned close to the door on the balcony had been moved. 'Someone went out for a fag and moved it and didn't move it back,' she told the inquest.
She also told the coroner that on the day of Minnie-Rae's death, she had smoked a joint of cannabis in the morning and another at around 5pm.
The coroner asked her whether she thought this had impacted her ability to look after Minnie-Rae. She replied: 'No, it never has before.'
The inquest heard that in the late afternoon and early evening, Minnie-Rae went on to the balcony. Dunn said: 'I said no at first. I'm a sucker for her eyes, I ended up giving in and that is the biggest mistake of my life.'
Delivering his conclusion, Pegg said: 'There were a number of black bin bags containing clothes, distributed and cluttering the balcony. Minnie-Rae stood on something, elevating herself so that her waist was above the wall of the balcony. Minnie-Rae then fell from that balcony.'
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