Devastated father of girl, 3, pays tribute to his ‘bubbly’ daughter
A father has paid tribute to his three-year-old daughter who was killed in a childcare carpark in Melbourne.
On Monday afternoon a woman was tending to one of three children in the back seat of a car when the vehicle rolled back and killed the three-year-old girl at the Kiddy Palace Learning Centre in the Melbourne suburb of Epping.
“It is believed a 26-year-old woman was attending to another child in the rear of the car when the vehicle moved backwards,” police said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Both the Broadmeadows woman and the three-year-old girl were struck by the vehicle as it moved.”
Charlotte’s father, Adam Smithers has spoken to Nine News, paying tribute to his daughter and saying he doesn’t know “what to feel”.
“She was a really bubbly, outgoing girl who would light up the room wherever she went,” her father Adam Smithers told Nine News.
“I’m devastated my little baby is gone, I don’t know what to feel.”
Investigators are still working to determine why the car moved.
Family friend Hannah Skyring on Tuesday launched an online appeal to help the girl's parents.
"My very close friend's daughter was tragically run over by the car she was getting into," Ms Skyring posted on a gofundme page.
"I'm raising this money to help both parents be able to give their baby girl the send-off she deserves, the beautiful princess that she was, and to allow the father have time off work to grieve."
Detective Sergeant Daryll Out issued a warning for all drivers to take care.
"We certainly urge anybody who's around children to be very careful and mindful that terrible accidents such as these can occur if everyone is not paying full attention to what they are doing."
The Australian Childcare Alliance's Paul Mondo hopes the investigation’s findings will prevent a repeat of similar incidents.
"Obviously the recommendations that come out of [the police investigation] are important to understand before passing comment, but our job as a community is to avoid these sort of tragedies from happening and learning from every experience as they occur," he told radio 3AW.
The online fundraising campaign hopes to attract $10,000.
"RIP beautiful girl, forever in our hearts," Ms Skyring wrote.
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