The helicopter had been hovering near our house for some time on Monday night but I really didn’t give it much thought. I figured the police helicopter was doing some kind of routine patrol.
As I went to bed I switched on the radio to hear the 10:00 p.m. news. A young child was missing in a suburb near us. The police helicopter was using their spotlight to search the area backed up by officers on the ground.
I jumped out of bed to grab the street directory. I showed Pauline where the child was missing and she told me that a school friend of our son James lived in that area. We wondered if it was his younger brother that was missing.
Yesterday morning came the sad news that 18 month old Dut Dier had been found dead in a man made lake just a hundred metres from his home. It seems that he slipped out the door and headed straight for one of his favourite places.
Words can’t describe how the tragedy makes me feel as I think about what happened and what might have been but I know that that’s nothing comapred to the grief that the Dier family is feeling right now.
An article in The West says,
The Diers were refugees from Sudan and moved to Sydney four years ago. They moved to Perth last year because they thought there would be more work available and it would be a safer environment for the children.
How do you recover from something like that?
It was beautiful to hear James pray for the family and for his friend last night before he went to sleep. I’m sure that the Dier family will need a lot more prayer in the coming days and weeks.
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