Another unnecessary infant death - coroner

Wellington regional coroner Ian Smith today called the death of a one-month-old baby sleeping between its parents "yet another tragic unnecessary loss of life caused brought about by bed sharing".

He added that despite coroners' constant comments on such dangers, bed sharing continued.

The coroner's chamber findings was that Audrina Karalia Clark, who lived with her teenage parents in Whitby, Porirua, died on July 17 last year of sudden unexpected death in infancy caused by an unsafe sleeping environment between adults.

At the time the baby died her parents were both sixteen and had been living in a relationship for about three years.

When the infant was put to bed in Whitby, at the home of the maternal grandparents, she slept in a bassinette but at the paternal grandparents's dwelling she slept in a portacot or shared the parents' double bed.

The parents were not named.

- NZPA