The mother of a five-year-old boy who fell to his death from a 15th-floor kitchen window told an inquest that her son 'could have been here' if the council had listened to her. Aalim Ahmed died instantly after landing on railings at the bottom of the residential block in Plaistow, east London, on May 16, 2024.
Mother's safety concerns ignored
Sahra Osman, Aalim's mother, told Walthamstow Coroner's Court that 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 instead of risking homelessness if she refused the accommodation.
Osman testified that the windows had 'faulty' restrictors and that her repeated complaints to get them fixed were ignored. She described the bedroom window as being able to be left 'just wide open', adding: 'I was quite scared and it was unsafe.' She said an engineer promised to look into fixing it but within a day she found a window restrictor on the floor.
Council's response questioned
The mother called the council to complain, begging for help, and told the inquest: 'The window was wide open, it would not lock, it was hanging.' She said she wanted to speak to a manager, stressing it was a safety issue for her children, but the council did not treat it as 'an emergency'. The family kept all windows 'always closed' before bed, but that night they were woken by the toddler's screams of 'Aalim', 'window', and 'outside'.
Osman's partner, Makail Ahmed, described the moment as one of 'disbelief – it was a nightmare'. He ran to the ground floor and found his son. Neighbours, awakened by the noise, called 999. Aalim's mother believes he may have been climbing to get a biscuit from a cupboard.
Inquest hears of 'preventable' tragedy
The council suggested that the engineer was not told of issues with the kitchen window restrictor, only problems in the living room. Osman insisted she had told workmen about problems in all 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.'
Osman denied any suggestion that she may have 'forced' the window open to cope with hot weather. Assistant coroner Ian Wade said in an introductory comment: '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.
