Pool fence safety in focus amid adventurous boy's death

Key points

• An inquest has heard that a three-year-old boy likely climbed on a stool to reach a latch on a backyard pool gate before he drowned. Dion Robbins died at his family's rented home in the Darwin suburb of Moulden in June 2025.
• Counsel assisting Fiona Kepert said the boy's father fell asleep after lying down with him to watch a movie. Four months earlier, an inspection had found rust damage and a gate that was not self-closing.
• Kepert urged the coroner to examine whether the Northern Territory's pool fence compliance system needs more regular checks.