Almost four months after 47-year-old Alphonsine Djiako Leuga called an ambulance that never came, she and her 18-year-old daughter Loraine Choulla were found dead at their family home in Radford, Nottingham.
The bodies were only discovered after a neighbor realized the windows of their home had been opened since February and alerted the police of his suspicions that something could be wrong with the mother and daughter.
Leuga made the 999 call on February 2, 2024, and authorities found her and her daughter’s dead bodies on May 21, 2024.
The desperate mother, who had sickle cell anaemia according to details shared at a hearing held by Nottingham Coroner’s Court, said she was cold and couldn’t move. She was asking for help for both her and her daughter who had Down Syndrome and learning disabilities. The daughter was entirely dependent on her mother.
According to the investigation regarding the passing of the mother and daughter, it is believed that Leuga passed away shortly after the emergency call was made, while Choulla died on February 28.
During the call, Leuga was able to provide details of her identity and place of stay, yet the dispatchers marked it an “abandoned call” and never sent help.
Detective Con Jack Cook of the Nottinghamshire Police said, “Loraine had been left in the premises alone and had been alive until her device had lost charge.”
During the hearing, Dr. Stuart Hamilton, the pathologist, was asked whether hunger or dehydration could have contributed to the child’s death. He replied, “There is nothing in my findings that say any of that is incorrect.”
According to East Midlands Ambulance Service’s head of patient safety, Susan Jevons, attempts had been made to call Leuga back.
She told the inquest: “The call should have been left for an ambulance to attend once we had got the address, which we had.
“The ambulance didn’t go to the address because the emergency medical adviser, thinking it was an abandoned call, closed the call down.
“So it wasn’t visible to anybody within the emergency operations centre.”
The coroner told Jevons she must weigh the possibility that sending an ambulance might have saved the girl’s life.
Asked whether there had been a “missed opportunity,” Jevons answered, “Yes, there was a missed opportunity for an ambulance to attend Alphonsine when she requested one.”
It has been revealed that in late January 2024, days prior to the tragic incident, Leuga was admitted to hospital for a blood transfusion due to low iron levels. She only stayed at the hospital for two days before being granted a “pragmatic” discharge because she needed to return home to her daughter, according to People.
The pathologist’s report stated Leuga’s cause of death as pneumonia of uncertain cause. Her daughter’s cause of death couldn’t be established.
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