Good Samaritan helps save toddler but loses car in harbour

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A good Samaritan who helped rescue a mother and her toddler from Otago Harbour yesterday watched helplessly as his car then rolled into the water.

Yoshiko Cowell was horrified to see her daughter, Kotomiyo, tip over in her pram and roll down a sea wall into the water at Portobello at 11.30am.

Trapped under the pram, the 3-year-old managed to keep her head out of the knee-high water and scream for her mother, who jumped in immediately.

She was able to grab her daughter and the pram before it floated away.

Seeing their plight, a motorist stopped to assist. He helped lift the pair - and the pram - out of the water.

But as he was offering them a ride home, his car - just metres away - rolled into the harbour.

"He just laughed ... I was shocked," said Ms Cowell.

The man had stopped after he saw the pram roll over the 2m-high wall into the water.

He turned on his car's hazard lights, then rushed to the aid of the stricken pair.

Ms Cowell said she planned to meet him to thank him for his assistance.

"He did such a good deed and then that happened to him. It is just not fair," she said.

"I wish I could afford to buy him a car."

Attempts to contact the 59-year-old man at his Harwood home last night were unsuccessful.

Senior Constable Lox Kellas, of Portobello, praised the man, who was a "good Samaritan and responded very quickly".

Unfortunately, the man had failed to apply his handbrake "in the heat of the moment".

The car was recovered yesterday afternoon.

Ms Cowell said that apart from a waterlogged cellphone and a few grazes on her daughter, the pair had escaped relatively unscathed. But they were both in shock after the incident.

"I got home and burst into tears. It was all just so bizarre."

She said that while the brake had been applied to the three-wheeled pram, that did not prevent it from tipping over, and served as a reminder to parents to be careful near water.