The mother of a five-year-old boy who fell to his death from a 15th-floor kitchen window has told an inquest that her son could still be alive if the council had listened to her concerns.
Fatal fall in Plaistow
Aalim Ahmed died instantly when he landed on railings at the bottom of the residential block in Plaistow, east London. His body was found by his father shortly before 6am on May 16, 2024.
His mother, Sahra Osman, told Walthamstow Coroner's Court she was 'scared' and 'horrified' when Newham Council placed the family in the top-floor flat, which needed repairs. She said the flat in Jacobs House was unsuitable for Aalim, who had autism and 'no sense of danger', and his toddler sibling.
She claimed she was advised to move in and complain about her safety concerns rather than risk being made homeless if she turned the flat down.
Faulty window restrictors
Sahra told the inquest the windows had 'faulty' restrictors and her repeated complaints to get them fixed led nowhere. She said the bedroom window could be left 'just wide open', adding: 'I was quite scared and it was unsafe.'
She said an engineer said he would see about getting it fixed, but within a day she found a window restrictor on the floor. The mother called the council to complain and begged for help, telling the inquest: 'The window was wide open, it would not lock, it was hanging.'
She said she wanted to speak to a manager and stressed it was a safety issue for her children, but the council did not treat it as 'an emergency'.
Night of the incident
The mother told the court the windows were all 'always closed' before the family went to bed, but they were all woken that night by the screams of her toddler shouting 'Aalim', 'window' and 'outside'.
Sahra said her partner was at the kitchen window and was 'just crying and screaming in shock' when 'he saw his son's pyjamas' and 'he just could not believe it'. She thinks Aalim may have been climbing to get a biscuit from a cupboard.
Aalim's father, Makail Ahmed, told the court the moment was one of 'disbelief – it was a nightmare'. He ran to the ground floor and discovered his son. Neighbours who were awoken by the noise called 999.
Council's response questioned
The council suggested the engineer was not told of any issues with the restrictor in the kitchen, but there were problems in the living room. Sahra insisted she had told the workmen there was a problem in all the rooms and accused the council of 'not taking my situation seriously enough'.
She told Sandesh Singh, representing the council: 'If you people did your job seriously and done what you should have my son could have been here. It was preventable. If the council had done their job my son could have been here.'
She denied any suggestion that she may have 'forced' the window open to cope in hot weather.
In an introductory comment, assistant coroner Ian Wade said: 'One of the things I bear in mind is the horrendous loss borne by Aalim's family and indeed the community. I am very conscious that this should never have happened but how it happened remains to be seen.'
The hearing continues.
