Alphonsine Djiako Leuga and Loraine Choulla: Mother and daughter’s bodies found months after ambulance call

An inquest into the death of a mother and her daughter has been told that the mother called for an ambulance that never arrived.

The bodies of Alphonsine Djiako Leuga, 47, and Loraine Choulla, 18, were discovered on May 21, 2024 in their Radford, Nottingham home.

They were believed to have been dead for “weeks or months”, the BBC reported.

Ms Leuga called for an ambulance on February 2 and told the operator she was cold and unable to move, the inquest at Nottingham Coroner’s Court was told.

The mother’s cause of death was pneumonia, while Ms Choulla’s remains “unascertained”, according to pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton.

Ms Leuga had been admitted to hospital on January 26, 2024 with a lower respiratory tract infection. While in care, she also required blood transfusions because of her low iron levels.

The inquest was told the hospital had wanted her to remain in care but that Ms Leuga had “discharged pragmatically” two days after she was admitted to return to her daughter.

There was an agreement that Ms Leuga would return to the hospital the following day, but she did not.

Both Ms Leuga’s GP and the hospital were unable to contact her.

Then, she made the emergency call on February 2, and Dr Hamilton said that he could not rule out that she had died that same day.

The inquest was told Ms Choulla was “entirely dependent” on her mother and that she had Down syndrome and learning disabilities.

The transcript of the emergency call was read aloud in the courtroom.

The call handler asked Ms Leuga what language she spoke and whether she needed an interpreter.

Ms Leuga had not responded to those questions but gave the operator her home address and requested an ambulance.

Her final words on the call were “would you send an ambulance? Please come, please”.

Susan Jevons, a paramedic and head of the coroners’ service at East Midlands Ambulance Service, told the inquest that an attempt had been made to call Ms Leuga back.

Ms Jevons said an ambulance was not sent to the home because the emergency medical adviser thought it was an “abandoned call” and “closed the call down”.

An internal investigation found that there was a “missed opportunity” for an ambulance to be sent to the scene, and Ms Jevons apologised on behalf of EMAS for “all of the errors” it made.

The inquest will continue to investigate how the mother and daughter died.

There will be an examination of whether Ms Leuga died before her daughter, and if this was the case, whether there were any subsequent missed opportunities to save Ms Choulla.

The inquest continues.