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The mum of a six-year-old girl who drowned off Margate beach says she told a friend looking after her: "I don't want my baby going into the water."
Dajahnel Young - known by her middle name, Amazin - was spotted floating lifeless in the sea before coming to rest near the town's harbour arm on a summer's day last year.
Desperate attempts to resuscitate the youngster, who could not swim, proved unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead at the QEQM Hospital.
At an inquest into her death today, her mum, Camille Remekie, says she entrusted friend Cynthia Robinson to take care of her daughter while on a seaside trip from south London to the crowded east Kent beach.
After hearing of a planned group outing organised by church friends, Miss Remekie was at first reluctant to allow Amazin to go as she did not want her going into the "dirty" water.
However, "at the last minute" the 32-year-old consented and Amazin stayed at Mrs Robinson's home overnight before heading down to Margate the following morning.
The relationship between long-term friends Miss Remekie and Mrs Robinson had been strained for a number of years, but allowing Amazin to go to the beach was seen as a step to "mending" their friendship.
Giving evidence today at The Guildhall in Sandwich, Miss Remekie, who was in Bexleyheath working on the day of the tragedy, says she told Mrs Robinson the day before "I don't want my baby going into the water".
"But I don't remember her saying anything in response," she added.
Miss Remekie had contact via video call with Mrs Robinson later that evening to check how on her daughter was doing.
They spoke again when the group were driving down to Margate and then again when they had arrived at the beach on Saturday, July 28.
Miss Remekie told the hearing: "When I called her, she [Mrs Robinson] said 'why are you tracking me down?' - that's the very first thing she said to me.
"I said, 'because you've got my child'. On the video call I could see Amazin playing in the sand and she was going to get seashells for her grandma.
"Denise, one of my customers in the shop, told me to tell her 'don't put my baby in the water'. But I don't remember if I said that again on the phone."
Amazin, described as an "inquisitive" and "happy" child, had never been swimming in the sea before, but had been in a pool wearing armbands a handful of times.
Miss Remekie said: "I didn't specifically tell Amazin not to go in the water. She would have wanted to as it's exciting.
"If you know a child to be excitable, you are alert and look after her a lot as she may run off."
A pre-inquest review in April was told Amazin had been told to go into the water to wash after wetting herself.
Following the videocall, the next contact Miss Remekie received was from staff at the QEQM Hospital, who told her Amazin had been admitted.
Joined by her friend Denise, she went by police car to the hospital, where she was later told Amazin had died.
In the aftermath of her daughter's death, Miss Remekie remembers her first contact with Mrs Robinson over the phone.
"I didn't really want to talk to her but she was saying 'it was the lifeguards' fault, it's everyone else's fault'," she said.
"You can't take my child and say it's the lifeguards' fault. You are the one that is responsible for her."
Text messages from Mrs Robinson the following day read "I am so, so sorry... you have right to be angry with me as Amazin was in our care".
Yet, Miss Remekie, who told the court how Mrs Robinson was like a grandmother to Amazin before their relationship strained, said her old friend showed a "total lack of remorse" following Amazin's death.
In a written statement, she added: "I want to know definitively what happened to my daughter - I still don't know what happened to my child.
"I gave clear instructions for her not to go in the water.
"I want to know who was the last person to see my daughter before going in, I want to know how long until the emergency services were called, I want to to know how long they looked for my daughter."
The inquest is expected to last until Friday.
