Mom of girl who drowned after falling off houseboat now blames her for family's eviction: 'If she hadn’t died, none of this would have happened'
Rebecca Soetekouw's daughter, three-year-old Zeinobiyah Soetekouw, died earlier this month while the family was traveling around Australia on the 13ft boat called the Sumbawa.
A mother-of-10, who describes herself as "hippie," has said that her family has been "ruined" after her toddler daughter fell off a houseboat and died. Rebecca Soetekouw has reportedly blamed her dead daughter after the family was asked to leave the houseboat they had been living in for two years.
Rebecca's daughter, three-year-old Zeinobiyah Soetekouw, died earlier this month while the family was traveling around Australia on the 13ft boat called the Sumbawa. The mother, after the family was ordered to not live on the houseboat anymore, said that she is now "angry" at herself, her toddler, and others because now they will all have to return to their home in Tasmania, according to the Mirror.
The mother, in a blog post on the family's website, wrote: "If she hadn’t of (sic) died, none of this would have happened. Why did it have to happen?" The post has since been deleted.
The child reportedly drowned after she fell off the back of the yacht while it was moored in Dead Horse Bay, north of Sydney, on July 9. The three-year-old's lifeless body was later pulled out of the water.
Rebecca, in her blog post titled "Not Becoming Homeless", had written that the family, including her husband Steve Soetekouw and their nine children, have been ordered by Child Services to not live on the houseboat anymore because it is not big enough.
Meanwhile, Maritime Services said that the boat was not seaworthy and that repairs must be made before August 22.
"We were told that we had four weeks to fix Sumbawa or she would be seized on us, and then we would have to pay $5,500 (£3,000) to get her back or she would be destroyed," Rebecca wrote in the post. "All our choices had been taken away from us, as well as our daughter. I can't help but get angry - angry at the situation, angry at the government, angry at myself and even angry at Zeinobiyah. If she hadn't of died, none of this would have happened.
"But, life sometimes isn’t fair. Yet I have done enough research into the Universe, to know that I can learn from this. Right now, I am struggling with this," she wrote, adding that the family has not had the time to grieve since the death of her daughter. "We were emotionally ruined. We haven't had anytime to just bond as a family, and talk about our life now. We haven't had anytime, to find ourselves now – in any way."
