Alphonsine Leuga, 47, and her daughter Loraine Choulla, 18, likely died ‘weeks to months’ before their bodies were discovered
A mum had begged for an ambulance months before she and her daughter were tragically found dead in their home. Alphonsine Leuga, 47, and her daughter Loraine Choulla, 18, are believed to have died “weeks to months” before being found at their council house on May 21, 2024.
The preliminary cause of death for Ms Leuga has been determined as pneumonia of uncertain origin, while the precise cause of her daughter’s death remains unknown.
An inquest into their deaths began this week at Nottingham Coroners’ Court. The opening day of the hearing revealed a missed opportunity from East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) to send an ambulance to Ms Leuga’s address in Hartley Road, Radford.
The hearing was told the mother had been admitted to City Hospital between January 26 and 28, during which she was “critically unwell”. Coroner Amanda Bewley heard that she suffered from low iron levels and required a blood transfusion of three litres, but also had a respiratory tract infection.
Ms Leuga was discharged “pragmatically”, the court was told, as she needed to care for her daughter, who was “entirely dependent” on her. Ms Choulla had Down syndrome and learning disabilities, reports Nottinghamshire Live.
Just a week after she was discharged, on February 2, 2024, at 1.04pm, Ms Leuga made a 999 call asking for an ambulance. A transcript of the call was read out in court, NottinghamshireLive reports.
During the call, Ms Leuga said: “I need some help please. I need help to my daughter. I feel cold. I am on the bed. I feel cold and can’t move. Please send an ambulance. I do not want police, I need ambulance…my daughter. Would you send an ambulance? Please, come, please.”
Mumbles and groaning were also heard during the call and Ms Leuga was asked multiple times what language she spoke, as well as where she lived, despite repeating her address a number of times. Susan Jevons, head of patient safety at EMAS, told the hearing that Ms Leuga stated her address “clearly”.
The call was cut off, however, and attempts were made to call Ms Leuga back. With the information that was provided to them, the hearing was told EMAS should have rated the incident as category 3, which requires a response time of 120 minutes.
An ambulance did not go to the address because the emergency medical advisor closed the call down because they thought the call was abandoned, Ms Jevons explained. She said: “That should not have happened because we had obtained the address and a disposition from Alphonsine.
“They followed the abandoned call process when they shouldn’t have because they had an address and phone number [for Ms Leuga]. The abandoned call process should only be used for hoax calls. We should not have followed this process at all.
“EMAS did contact Alphonsine back to get more information but the call remained unanswered and the call was marked as abandoned which should not have happened.” Ms Jevons told coroner Ms Bewley that there was a missed opportunity from the emergency medical advisor to seek guidance from a senior colleague regarding how to proceed with the call after no contact could be made with Ms Leuga.
Had that happened, the call would have remained live. Ms Jevons said: “There was a missed opportunity for an ambulance to attend Alphonsine’s address.” It was also agreed that an ambulance attending the address could have “made a difference between life and death for Loraine”.
The hearing was told staff have since been asked to re-read the protocol for abandoned calls and, since February 2024, there have been no other similar incidents. During Monday’s hearing pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton said that it cannot be ruled out that Ms Leuga died on the day she made the 999 call.
He explained that he identified “significant post-mortem change” during both of the examinations, which “significantly tampered what could be identified in the examination”. Ms Leuga’s internal examination showed inflammation to the lungs, in accordance to her pneumonia.
Dr Hamilton said identifying when both women died would be “impossible” from the post-mortem examinations. He said: “On the balance of probabilities, it is likely Ms Leuga had been dead for a period of weeks to months based on the extent of post-mortem change.”
A similar conclusion was drawn regarding Ms Choulla. The teenager was entirely dependent on her mother to meet her hydrational and nutritional needs.
The hearing was told she could fill a glass of water if prompted but would not do it on her own. Dr Hamilton added that her stomach was empty at the time of the post-mortem examination in May 2024, when she weighed 59kg, compared to 108kg recorded on February 24, 2023.
He explained that the significant loss of weight could be partly due to post-mortem change. He said: “There is nothing in my findings suggesting that dehydration as a cause of death would be incorrect. Dehydration causes death more rapidly than malnutrition.”
A cause of death was proposed by coroner Ms Bewley as 1a dehydration and 1b Down Syndrome and learning disabilities. This will be officially established at the end of the coronial proceedings, however, on Friday, July 25.
