Devastated father speaks of toddler's dam drowning

Brlsbane

Peter Michael
January 12, 2010 12:00am
GRIEF-stricken father Tom Kath - who found his drowned three-year-old son in a dam on the family farm - has told of his "palpable physical pain" and "numbness".
Mr Kath yesterday fought back emotion as he struggled to explain the tragic loss of the couple's only child, Hector, in rural far north Queensland.
"We are grieving badly here," he told The Courier-Mail.
Hector had wandered off from the main house on the rural farm in Dimbulah about 2pm on Sunday, sparking a harrowing two-hour search before Mr Kath made the tragic discovery of his boy's body.
"There is a physical numbness. I have a palpable physical pain in my body," Mr Kath said.
"I can't express in words how important he is to us."
His son had walked 1km to get to the dam in the time it took the search party to find him.
Hector was the pride and joy of the couple who have older children from previous relationships.
"He was our only child. He was the only child for the two of us," said the heartbroken dad, choking back tears.
"From our perspective, the full scale of our grieving and loss is not something we can share with the public at large.
"It is very sensitive. It is very personal."
It is understood Mr Kath spotted his son in the dam, ran into the water and dragged him to shore before a desperate CPR effort to resuscitate the drowned toddler. Paramedics were called, but they were unable to revive the boy.
The tragic death has shaken the tight-knit rural farming community of the Atherton Tablelands.
The family has been offered professional counselling to cope with every parent's worst living nightmare, as have police and emergency workers who attended the scene.
Mr Kath said: "We do value our strong family network and the care and support of all those people who matter to us."
Dimbulah Police Sergeant Shane Mattes, who went to the scene and was audibly upset, said it was a "terrible tragedy".
"They are very distraught, as you can imagine," he said.
Mareeba District Inspector Rolf Straatemeier said the death had affected "everyone involved", including relatives and emergency workers.
"It's just a terrible thing to happen," he said.