A six-year-old girl who was killed by a recycling lorry on her way back from school should have been accompanied by an adult, a coroner ruled.
Carla Neems was hit by the truck as she rode on her scooter near her home in Gisborne, New Zealand, on May 2, 2017.
The youngster was usually accompanied to school by her two sisters, aged 8 and 10, but both were not present when the tragedy struck.
On the day of her death, Carla walked part of the way with two other children but was left to travel the final 100m section on her own.
An inquest into Carla's death has ruled that the parents should not have allowed her to travel without being supervised by another adult.
A corner who examined the case said that her parents trust in Carla's road safety was "misplaced".
"Carla was not accompanied home from school by a responsible older person, preferably an adult and she should have been," Coroner Tim Scott said.
"[These guidelines] stipulate that a child in Year 4 and below - Carla was in Year 2 - should not be permitted to ride a scooter unless accompanied by an adult."
"It cannot be stated with certainty that Carla would have been safe had she been accompanied by an adult. It is possible, but unlikely, that she still might have been struck by the truck," he said.
"I do not accept that it was acceptable for Carla to go to and from school in the care of her older siblings - and part of the way home alone.
"The siblings were too young to be vested with that responsibility.
"Sadly the confidence that [her parents] had about Carla's road safety was misplaced and flies in the face of what happened."
"It cannot be stated with certainty that Carla would have been safe had she been accompanied by an adult. It is possible, but unlikely, that she still might have been struck by the truck," he said.
Carla's father Dion Neems has rejected the corner's findings.
He told the New Zealand Herald: "In the Coroner's mind he believes that all children under the age of 10 should be walked to and from school by an adult. Our concerns there are how do you manage that?
"We need not lose sight of the fact she wasn't just 6-years-old, she was three weeks outside her 7th birthday and cognitively there is a big difference between a 6 and 7-year-old.
"She was a confident kid, she was aware of her surroundings, and it wasn't like she was a little flighty kid that would just run across the road."
A driver of the Waste Management recycling truck involved in the crash was cleared of wrongdoing in the case.
Sau Tulua Aliifaalogo, 37, was found not guilty of careless use causing Carla's death in a judgment delivered by a single judge.
