Watch: 'They said it was my fault my son drowned. This is the real story'

Francesca Borg had just changed the nappy of her six-year-old son Zaylen, who had autism, and washed her hands. When she turned to look for her son, he was nowhere to be found.

An hour and a half later – following an intensive search of the area involving the police and residents of Baħar Iċ-Ċagħaq – the family found him in the newly built pool of a large farmhouse that neighboured the family field where they spent their Sunday afternoons.

Zaylen had drowned.

Now, the family are speaking out about what happened to put an end to insensitive comments.

“My 11-year-old daughter received a message telling her that what happened to her little brother was my fault,” Francesca says in an exhausted tone. “This is an accident that can happen to anyone.”

She thinks her son, who loved the water, willingly entered the pool and did not fall into it. 

The family are also calling for better safety. “The pool could be accessed by anyone walking in the area. Getting there is as easy as walking up a pavement. If it was not Zaylen, it could have been someone else.”

Sitting by Francesca's side, her sister Dorothy Azzopardi, adds: “Someone commented that given that my sister [already] had a child with autism, she should not have had another child. But she only found out that the eldest had autism when she was pregnant with Zaylen. She chose to raise her children and love them. These people don’t know how damaging their words are.”

The day Zaylen drowned

The sisters went on to recount what happened on Sunday – the day Zaylen drowned.

That day, the family planned to spend the day at the family field in Baħar Iċ-Ċagħaq, where they have an above-ground pool. But the pool had not been filled, so the parents decided to take their three children  - Mackenzie, 11, Mazen, eight, and Zaylen - for a swim at White Rocks.

“Swimming was one of his hobbies. We put on the life vests for him and his brother. They were swimming and playing… Once Zaylen gets bored, he tends to run off. So I was worried he’d take off his life jacket and jump into the sea or run into the road,” his mother recounted.

After some time, they decided to leave to go to the field. Once there, Zaylen, who was non-verbal, had a tantrum.

His mother held him and caressed him gently until he calmed down.

Zaylen smiles while digging into a cake.

She then needed to change his nappy: something he still used due to his condition.

After she changed him, she washed her hands, thinking he had gone to play outside near his siblings and cousin, Dorothy’s daughter, who was with them.

Her husband was there, setting up the pool. She asked where Zaylen was. He was nowhere to be found.

“I was always checking on him. I did not trust him for a second. He liked to run off,” she says. 

“We looked everywhere”

The family spread out as they began to search.

“He was very light. He just ran, he did not feel the stones or thorns under his bare feet…We looked everywhere, in the usual spots where he had tried to run off in the past. My husband even went near the pool where we later found him – a few minutes before he was found - but did not see him,” Francesca said.

Her daughter approached the farmhouse where Zaylen was eventually found, but was scared to trespass due to CCTV cameras she spotted. They searched near the sea and the road.

They called the police. People in the area joined the search.

“The more time passed, the more I went crazy,” Zaylen's mother recounted.

Meanwhile, Dorothy’s daughter called her mother, to tell her what had happened.

Dorothy, who was at a party in the north of the island, started driving to the field but got caught in traffic. She called people she knew in Baħar Iċ-Ċagħaq and asked them to join the search.

In the days after the tragedy, the story would get twisted: in online comments, people wrote that it was Zaylen's mother Francesca, not her sister, who was at a party at the time.

Meanwhile, Francesca decided to check if Zaylen had walked home.

“He was a very bright boy. I thought he might have remembered the way home in Għargħur, so I headed there in the hope I’d find him behind the door.”

But when she was there, she received a call from her husband. A police drone had located Zaylen in a pool – he was unconscious.

“I fell to the ground. The shock had to come out,” she recalled.

 She drove back to the field, where Zaylen was given CPR that continued all the way to the hospital.

“We stayed there in the room while they gave him CPR.  I kept hoping he would be okay,” she says.

Medics tried to resuscitate him, but it was all in vain.

“An angel in heaven”

“He was born with the umbilical cord around his neck. He was suffocating. I was told to light a candle and thank the Lord he was alive after his birth. Who would have thought that six years later, he would die suffocated,” the mother says, bursting into tears.

“He was such a loving child. He was naughty and full of energy. But he knew how to love and everybody loved him. I cannot accept that I will be without him… I miss him coming to my bed in the morning….

Zaylen: An 'angel in heaven'.

“Anyone who has children with autism knows how difficult life can be. I had a son with severe autism and another with autism – they share the same birthday: October 18. Imagine what a difficult life it is. But I tell God: I was happy… You gave me this cross to bear. But I was happy. I had embraced that this was my life. I embraced this burden and accepted it. I wanted my life for them. Why did he take it from me?”

The family has received a lot of support, she said. But there were also the harmful and hurtful comments.

The family is now raising funds to build a playground at Hand in Hand, an education centre Zaylen used to attend. It will be named in his honour – Zaylen’s Playground.

Zaylen’s funeral will be held at the Għargħur Parish Church on Saturday, June 28 at 8.00am. The family are asking the public to wear white and blue “because he remains a pure angel in heaven”.

'Families of persons with disabilities carry an invisible burden'

In a statement, the National Parents Society for Persons with Disability expressed its sorrow at the story of Zaylen. 

"As parents and advocates, we can only imagine the pain his family is going through and the added weight of hurtful or blaming comments, especially in moments of profound loss, can cause long-lasting emotional harm," the statement read.

"Too often, families of persons with disabilities carry an invisible burden, not just of care and advocacy, but of societal judgment. When blame is directed at parents, particularly in public or institutional settings, it risks reinforcing stigma and isolation, rather than promoting compassion and collective responsibility."

The National Parents Society for Persons with Disability said society must work on creating a safer, more understanding environment for families navigating disability.

The group says it hopes such a heartbreaking story will encourage greater sensitivity in how professionals, media and the public respond, not just to tragedy but the everyday lives of persons with disabilities and their families.