Finding into death of Bailey Patman
Deceased
Bailey John David Patman
Demographics
9y, male
Date of death
2012-01-19
Finding date
2015-05-08
Cause of death
drowning
AI-generated summary
Bailey Patman, aged 9, drowned at Seaford Beach on 19 January 2012 while swimming with friends under inadequate supervision. Bailey was a poor swimmer who had received minimal swimming instruction and was fearful of deep water. He went to the beach with Mr Brennan, who was intoxicated and supervising multiple children, and became separated from the group while diving in shallow water near a sandbank. The water depth varied considerably, with deeper trenches creating hazardous conditions for weak swimmers. Bailey was rescued and received prolonged CPR but died at hospital. The coroner emphasised that lack of swimming ability significantly increases drowning risk, particularly in children, and recommended mandatory swimming and water safety education in Victorian primary schools, noting that 60% of year 6 students lack basic swimming standards.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- poor swimming ability
- lack of swimming instruction
- fear of deep water
- inadequate supervision by intoxicated adult
- hazardous water conditions with variable depth and trenches
- child separated from supervisor
- unpatrolled beach at time of incident
Coroner's recommendations
- Swimming and water safety education should be a compulsory skill taught within the primary school curriculum to all Victorian children
Full text
Source and disclaimer
This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.
Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.
Copyright in original materials remains with the relevant government jurisdiction. AI-generated summaries and tagging are for educational purposes only, may contain inaccuracies, and must not be treated as legal documents. We welcome feedback for correction —