Aisling Symes Update

What is believed to be the body of two year-old Aisling Symes was found last night in a drainpipe which runs under several properties including 5 Longburn Rd, 7 Longburn Rd and 51 Pomaria Rd, Henderson, at about 7.55pm .

The child's body was found 36 metres downstream from the assumed entry point into the drain which was buried 1.4m underground on the property at 51 Pomaria Rd.

Aisling was missing from 7 Longburn Rd since 5.30pm on Monday, October 5. A post mortem examination is scheduled to get underway this morning.

Inspector Gary Davey, Waitakere Area Commander, said his staff were seriously disappointed they didn't find Aisling alive.

"I am deeply saddened by this tragedy and I know that my staff are also deeply affected by the loss of such a young one's life," Mr Davey said.

"I am confident that, between the specialist Search and Rescue teams, the professional investigators and the tenacity of the general duties officers, we did as much as we could with the information we had about Aisling's disappearance.

"We ran several phases simultaneously and did not close our minds to one particular possible scenario or outcome, which is why we were prepared to review and revisit activities carried out in the first few days."

He said the manhole entrance to the drainpipe (which was 37.5cm in diameter) had been checked by Police who attended the address at 7 Longburn Rd at 5.50pm on the evening Aisling went missing.

"After being briefed by a neighbour, an attending officer who went to the adjacent property at 5 Longburn Rd noticed the cover of a manhole was ajar.

"He moved the cover off and looked into the drain and called out but only saw and heard water running in the pipe below. He was then called away from that manhole for about 15 minutes to assist another officer so replaced the cover.

"When he returned he removed the manhole cover again and climbed down into the drain with his torch before bending over to look about 5 metres in both directions of the lateral pipe while calling Aisling's name. He got no reply and did not see any obstruction in the pipe."

He then reported that search and the position of the manhole to the Search and Rescue Team who also checked the downward pipe later in the property search.

Mr Davey said that, as the week without Aisling wore on, investigating officers decided to revisit some of the tasks they'd carried out on the night she went missing.

"It is usual to regularly review aspects of investigations. Staff who initially attended the address where Aisling went missing were spoken to again yesterday and some raised concerns they had had about the position of a manhole cover on a neighbouring property the night she disappeared.

"That prompted a senior member of the team to initiate another search of the manhole and connecting drains and he was assisted by Waitakere City Council staff using drainage cameras.

Those cameras detected blockages some 36 metres downstream from the manhole in question and, once the 1.4metres of soil was dug from above, concrete cutters were used to access the pipe where several natural obstructions and the little girl were found."

He said the Police investigation into the disappearance of Aisling was ongoing as it was still not known how or when the child found yesterday came to be in the drainpipe.