Teralba, Lake Macquarie drowning: ‘Broken’ dad of six-year-old boy tells of his agony as his son drowns in a backyard pool
The father of a six-year-old boy who drowned in a neighbour’s swimming pool just 20 minutes after he was reported missing has relived the moment he knew his son was dead.
Andrew Pearman, 35, realized his youngest son Sage was not in the backyard of their Lake Macquarie home, two hours north of Sydney, at around 3.10pm on January 11.
He had been playing in the yard with Sage, but went inside to check on his eldest son, Braxton, nine.
When he went back outside, Sage was gone.
The schoolboy loved to hide and often ran into the laundry or crawled into small spaces.
But he had autism, was nonverbal and had limited communication skills, so he never responded when his name was called.
Sage didn’t like feeling trapped either; he loved fields and open spaces, and always wanted to be on the other side of a fence.
“We rent a large property but it takes about five minutes to check everything,” Pearman told Daily Mail Australia.
Andrew Pearman is pictured with his partner, Lauren Moore, and two of their three sons: Sage, left, and Braxton, right
Sage (pictured) had autism, was non-verbal and had limited communication skills
“A few minutes passed and we searched everywhere. I immediately called the police and they were there within five minutes.”
Mr Pearman, who works as a truck driver, ran into the street and started shouting, asking neighbors if they had seen his son.
About twenty minutes later, he was walking down a side street and saw an officer running down the road.
“I jumped the fence and ran across the road and I saw the officer had my boy in his arms,” he said through tears.
“I tried to run to him but the police stopped me, they wouldn’t let me run to him or see him.”
Mr Pearman watched as police tried to revive Sage before ambulances arrived and began covering the boy with white towels.
“I knew it wasn’t right,” he said.
The boy was found about 50 yards from the backyard where he went missing.
The ambulances left with his son in them, but Mr Pearman and his partner Lauren Moore, 38, were asked to go to hospital in another vehicle.
Andrew Pearman is pictured with his youngest son, Sage, who died last Thursday
Sage is pictured with his sister Arleah. She is six months old and does not understand what happened to her brother
“They weren’t speeding or moving fast, and I knew that. I knew immediately what had happened,” he recalls.
“The ambulance driver said, ‘It’s going to be fine,’ but I knew if he was alive they would have rushed us there.”
When they arrived at the hospital, three doctors and a social worker told Mr Pearman and Mrs Moore that their son was dead.
“They took me into a room and I was with my baby as long as I could, and then he was gone,” he said.
His eldest son Braxton also has autism and although his condition is not as severe as Sage’s, he still struggles to understand situations.
Sage once came home from the hospital in a cast because he had broken his foot. When his brother didn’t come home last Thursday, Braxton kept asking if his brother had a cast again.
A few days later, Mr. Pearman realized Braxton knew what was happening when he said, “Sage is an angel now.”
The nine-year-old also started watching the children’s program Hey Duggee on repeat last week. He never liked the show, but it was Sage’s favorite.
Their daughter Arleah is six months old and far too young to understand, so she continues to smile and laugh through the tragedy.
Sage didn’t like people touching him, his father said, but he didn’t mind if it was his little sister.
Sage is pictured with his mother, Lauren Moore, who is distraught over the death of her youngest son
Describing his son’s personality, the father of three said Sage reminded him of Donny – a wild boy who spoke very fast and gibberish on the ’90s television show, The Wild Thornberry’s.
Mr Pearman said he was ‘completely overwhelmed’ by the kindness and support the local community had shown his family over the past week.
“As a father, it has humbled me immensely to see that there are people who can say and do such beautiful things,” he said.
The family wants to give Sage a Duggee-themed funeral with his favorite colors, red, orange and yellow.
Mr Pearman has one GoFundMe campaign to help cover costs – he was ashamed to ask for help, but said there was no other way they could afford to give their son a proper burial.
“The fact that I have to do this is so difficult and shameful, on top of the dark reality in which we are about to bury our six-year-old baby,” he wrote.
“But the reality of where we are in life right now leaves me with no choice but to ask the universe for help.”
“My only wish is that Sage has the best send-off and most memorable memorial he can possibly have, and that the rest of his family can be comfortable with what lies ahead.”
Police said a six-year-old child was reported missing in the Lake Macquarie area about 3.15pm last Thursday.
“Officers from the Lake Macquarie Police District searched the area and located an unconscious child in the swimming pool of a nearby property,” they said in a statement.
“Police began CPR before NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived, but the child could not be resuscitated.”
A report will be prepared for the coroner.