Heart-wrenching scenes as the family of five-month-old girl killed when a Renault SUV reversed over her at a busy shopping centre gathers to mourn
Mourners have gathered at a home south of Sydney to farewell a baby killed in a tragic mall car park accident on Monday afternoon.
The five-month-old girl died when a white Renault SUV appeared to reverse over her pram at Minto Mall. Her five-year-old brother was injured but survived, and was released from Westmead Hospital on Tuesday.
Police said the 35-year-old female driver – who was later seen crying hysterically outside a nearby El Jannah restaurant – was known to the children, and reports suggest it was their devastated mother.
Family and friends were seen flocking to the Tahmoor home of Daimen and Ella Standring where they grieved together in the front law on Wednesday night.
Mr Standring was seen talking to neighbours in the street within their cul-de-sac as relatives gathered to share their pain.
A neighbour confirmed to Daily Mail that they were the grieving parents, but he did not know the baby girl’s name.
Mr Standring was said to be advising neighbours that their usually quiet street would be filled with cars and people as they came to pay respects amid the unbearable tragedy.
Amid the mourners, a woman was seen sitting at the front of the residence clutching an elephant-patterned baby blanket and a pink teddy bear, with a young boy next to her. Mr Standring at one point hugged a boy who appeared to have a head injury.
Mourners gathered at the home of Damain and Ella Standring on Wednesday
A woman who appeared to have been crying clutched a baby blanket
Out the front of the house a child seat could be seen positioned on the ground
The couple declined to comment when contacted by Daily Mail. Google Map images revealed an identical white Renault Koleos to the one involved in the car park tragedy was previously parked in the driveway of the home.
Mr Standring was said to be advising neighbours that their usually quiet street would be filled with cars and people as they came to pay respects amid the unbearable tragedy.
Amid the mourners, a woman was seen sitting at the front of the residence clutching an elephant-patterned baby blanket and a pink teddy bear, with a young boy next to her. Mr Standring at one point hugged a boy who appeared to have a head injury.
Seven ambulances were called to the scene at 3.30pm on Monday, where the baby was given CPR but sadly died at the scene.
Poignantly, their tidy family home bore all the signs of a tiny child having lived there.
A car seat was seen leaning on a wall outside the house, while a ‘baby on board’ sticker hung in the window of a silver SUV parked in the driveway.
A white Renault that was thought to be involved in the accident was nowhere to be seen.
It is understood the Standrings are devout churchgoers, and are listed as part of the Mittagong congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The gathering follows a young mother having revealed her horror over witnessing the moment the car reversed in the busy mall car park, as the baby was nestled in a nearby brown pram.
Minto resident Maholy Montaro, who was parked just meters from the incident – described in detail hearing the collision from just a few parking spaces over.
The couple told neighbours family and friends would be gathering at the house
A tricycle with a push handlebar was also seen on the property
She said it was followed almost immediately by the distressed wails of the driver.
‘I heard the sound. It was a loud bump,’ she recalled in an exclusive interview with Daily Mail.
‘Within seconds I could hear a woman hysterically screaming… it broke my heart.
‘And about five minutes after that all the emergency services came in.’
Ms Montaro, a 29-year-old factory operator and mother of two, said she would have run over to help, but she had her own young children in her car.
‘I was focused on trying to shield them from it,’ she said.
‘I couldn’t see what happened properly as I had my two young kids in the car and I didn’t want them to see it. But I wanted to give [the mum] a hug.
‘Even still, my kids knew what had happened. I had to explain that the baby girl is now an angel in heaven. My youngest keeps talking about the baby in heaven.
Crime scene tape kept onlookers away from the tragic scene at Minto Mall
A mangled pram was pictured next to a mother’s white Renault on Monday afternoon
An El Jannah staff member was seen on Tuesday inspecting the floral tributes left outside the store just metres from where the accident took place
Ms Montaro said she was not questioned by police in relation to the accident, but had to call her partner to collect her and their kids because she could not access her vehicle.
‘It was so awful [to witness] because I have kids as well. How did this happen?’
She returned to the tragic scene with her children on Tuesday to lay flowers outside El Jannah.
‘I wouldn’t know how to deal with this situation if it happened to me,’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t cope.’
