It was meant to be a fun family day out, but after a routine trip to an automatic public toilet, a Bluff toddler has been left traumatised from the terror of being trapped in its wash cycle.
Jessie Wakelin’s autistic son Zachery (3) had to be toilet trained again following the unfortunate episode at an Exeloo toilet, which hit the headlines last month. After a walk with his mum, his nine-month-old sister Maddi, and two other family members, Zachery needed to use the toilet and headed into the automatic loo at Stirling Point.
“I was just three steps behind him and just as he walked in, the door shut. All of a sudden it let a warning off that the wash cycle was starting and to ‘exit cubicle now’,” Jessie (21) recalls. “I kept trying to push the button, but [the door] wouldn’t open. I told Zak to push the button and he tried but it still wouldn’t work. I could hear him saying ‘No, no.’ Then the toilet started spraying and he started screaming at the top of his lungs.
I’ve never heard him scream like that,” she told New Zealand Woman’s Weekly from the home she shares with her partner in Bluff. “Because he was screaming so loud, I thought the water must have been hot,” says Jessie, who was also panicking Zachery was being sprayed with bleach and rushed to a group of motorcyclists nearby to get help.
“There were 20 of us standing there. We were freaking out, not knowing what to do. “The bikers were trying to get the hammers to smash the door down, but as soon as someone got one, it stopped. And I don’t know if Zachery opened it or if it opened automatically.
“He came out soaking wet and petrified. He said, ‘Mum!’ and grabbed me and hugged me like he wouldn’t let me go. I’ve never seen him so scared. It was horrible.” Stripping off his wet clothes, Jessie took her son straight home to warm up, then rang the Invercargill City Council to report the faulty toilet.
When Jessie tried to ask her son what happened in the toilet, he said, “It shut. Scary water. I missed you, Mummy.” The council’s contractors have since identified and repaired the faults with the toilet and are checking other Exeloos installed in the region.
The council also sent Jessie a $30 Warehouse voucher, with an apology note. “That’s fine, but the thing that annoyed me is that they spelt my son’s name, ‘Jachary.’” And she adds the money doesn’t cover the cost of the clothes and shoes Zachery was wearing when he was drenched with disinfectant and water.
But the worst consequence has been the psychological trauma. Being on the low end of the autism spectrum, Zachery suffers wild emotional swings and difficulties relating to other children. He had been making good progress with his speech and behavioural therapy, but he’s taken several steps back since the toilet trauma.
At day care, Zachery, who has been toilet trained for a year, was too scared to use the loo, and on two occasions stood outside the door and wet himself. At home he refused to go with the door shut. “I’ve had to retrain him,” sighs Jessie.
In the days following the incident, Zachery refused to get out of the car or go for a walk, but lately he’s become more outgoing and has even used other public toilets – provided Jessie goes with him. “He does remember what happened and says, ‘This toilet isn’t scary is it Mum?’”
