Kayak drowning victim Vogue Elers’ family appeal for drunken guide to have longer jail term

Devastating blow for family of girl, four, killed on kayak with drunk woman

  • Four-year-old drowned kayaking 
  • Drunk woman took child out on water 
  • Family lose appeal to add to her jail time 

A devastated family has failed to get a longer jail term for the drunk woman who was with their four-year-old daughter when she drowned in a kayaking tragedy.

Tamarah Eaton was handed a 30-month jail term, with an 18-month non-parole period, in December over the death of Vogue Elers in June 2021.

Eaton, 36, pleaded guilty to aggravated culpable navigation causing the girl’s death in the Karuah River off Mallabula Point, north of Newcastle.

Crown prosecutors appealed the lightness of the sentence last month, but on Wednesday Sydney’s Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed their case, leaving Vogue’s parents, Brooke and Ricky Elers, in ‘shock and disbelief’.

‘We are the ones who will continue to suffer,’ they said in a statement as they labelled the decision ‘unbelievable and disappointing’.

Vogue Elers drowned  in a horrific kayaking tragedy at just four years of age in June 2021

‘This is not justice. This is a legal system that favours offenders and in our case has handed me, my husband, plus our extended family and friends and a whole community with a life sentence.

‘This is so wrong.’    

On the day of the tragedy, Eaton was serving a 10-month intensive corrections order after being convicted of a high-range drink-driving offence.

Just hours before taking Vogue and her dog out to go fishing in the one-person kayak, Eaton, who was a friend of the family, had already consumed a bottle of vodka.

She was carrying a green Tupperware bottle that also contained vodka and did not provide lifejackets, which breaks the law in NSW where it is mandatory they be worn on all vessels by children under 12.

When the kayak capsized, Eaton was able to swim to shore but both Vogue and her pet drowned.

Police at the time estimated Eaton’s blood alcohol level at 0.297, almost six times the legal limit.

Brooke Elers (pictured with Vogue) honoured her daughter with a heart-rending social media post in June

Brooke Elers (pictured with Vogue) honoured her daughter with a heart-rending social media post in June

Crown barrister Monica Millward argued on Wednesday the jail term given to Eaton was ‘manifestly inadequate to a considerable degree’ and could undermine public confidence by failing to reflect the impact on Vogue and her family.

However, while Justice Peter Hamill acknowledged the case was ‘intensely sad’ he said the sentence was ‘not plainly wrong, unreasonable or unjust’, according to 7News.

‘The sentence imposed by Judge McGrath was comfortably within the wide discretion entrusted to the sentencing judge,’ he said in his ruling.

Last Thursday, Ms Elers marked the two-year anniversary of her daughter’s death with a heart-rending social media post.

The Elers family failed in their bid to impose a harsher sentence on Tamarah Eaton, who allowed Vogue to drown while heavily intoxicated

The Elers family failed in their bid to impose a harsher sentence on Tamarah Eaton, who allowed Vogue to drown while heavily intoxicated

‘HOW has it been 2 years Voguey… Our lives & our hearts have and never will heal and our pain continues to be a roller coaster ride,’ she wrote on Facebook.

‘Although we are so incredibly lost without you and the numbness never subsides, we continue to honour you in the best way we know how, being a strong Whanau and EUnit and being there for others!!!’

She reflected on the upcoming appeal against the Eaton’s sentence. 

‘No increase in sentence will change the fact your life was stolen from us but we thank those special ones who attended on the day and those that reach out offering help and continue to reach out by being there for us on this never ending battle, we see you, we feel you, we thank you,’ she wrote.

‘Words will never be enough to express our pain, our heartbreak but also the love we have for you Voguey… You should be here.’

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk