There’s an ongoing inquiry in the UK after a really tragic situation. A mom and her daughter were found dead in their home, even though they had called for help months earlier.
Alphonsine Djiako Leuga was 47. Her daughter, Loraine Choulla, was just 18. They were discovered in their Nottinghamshire home back in May last year.
A heartbreaking discovery inside a Nottinghamshire home
It was one of those cases that shook the community. Two lives lost inside their own home, and not just suddenly. This could’ve well been avoided.
People who knew them, and even officials, were left wondering how something like this could happen.
The desperate 999 call was never answered
Before anything happened, Alphonsine called 999. She was able to give her address and asked for an ambulance.
But no one came. The call ended, and that was it. No one showed up, even though she had clearly asked for help.
Authorities believe the mother died shortly after her emergency call
At the inquest, a detective named Con Jack Cook from Nottinghamshire Police spoke about it.
He said they now believe Alphonsine probably died not long after she made that emergency call. So she reached out right before she passed.
Her daughter was left alone and died weeks later
Loraine, her daughter, had Down’s syndrome and some learning difficulties. She depended on her mom for everything. Totally.
But Loraine didn’t die right away. Investigators found that she was still alive for some time, up until around February 28.
Detective Cook said: “Loraine had been left in the premises alone and had been alive until her device had lost charge.”
Authorities think she passed away sometime before her birthday in April.
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The emergency call was mistakenly marked as abandoned
That 999 call Alphonsine made unfortunately got labeled the wrong way. The system marked it as an “abandoned call,” which caused all the trouble.
Someone assumed no one was on the line and shut the call down.
She said: “The ambulance didn’t go to the address because the emergency medical adviser, thinking it was an abandoned call, closed the call down.”
Officials speak out during the inquest into their deaths
After everything came out, officials from different departments stepped in. Nottinghamshire Police, the local Coroner’s Office, and East Midlands Ambulance Service all gave their sides during the inquiry.
This all came out at the inquest that began on July 21. It’s been a painful process for everyone involved.
Alphonsine suffered from serious health conditions
The mother had some serious health struggles herself. She had sickle cell anaemia and was dealing with a lot.
Her cause of death was listed as “pneumonia of uncertain cause.” So even the doctors aren’t fully sure what led to her passing.
The daughter tragically died weeks later
BBC reported that Loraine’s cause of death was malnutrition and dehydration, as the pair were both found in the property on 21 May, 2024.
Ambulance service admits serious failure
During the inquest, Susan Jevons, head of patient safety at East Midlands Ambulance Service, spoke up.
She explained that the dispatcher did try to call Alphonsine back more than once after the line went dead.
Jevons didn’t sugarcoat anything, though. She apologized for ‘all of the errors’ made by the service and added that the team’s failure to dispatch an ambulance should ‘never have happened’.
