The mother of a five-year-old boy who fell from his 15th-floor flat told an inquest his death was “preventable” and he still “could have been here” if the council had done its job properly. Aalim Ahmed landed on a railing at the bottom of the residential block in Plaistow, east London, after falling from his kitchen window. The boy died instantly and his father discovered his body shortly before 6am on 16 May 2024.
Mother's Safety Concerns Ignored
His mother Sahra Osman told Walthamstow Coroner’s Court she was “scared” and “horrified” when Newham Council put them in the top-floor flat which needed repairs. She told Sandesh Singh, representing the council, “you guys ignored me rather than doing anything about the actual issues”.
Ms Osman, who was heavily pregnant with a daughter, moved in to the top-floor flat in Jacobs House in February 2023, despite feeling it was not suitable for her family which included Aalim, a toddler and her partner. She had been advised to move in and complain about her safety concerns instead of risking being made homeless if she turned it down, according to Ms Osman.
Faulty Window Restrictors
She thinks Aalim, who had autism and “no sense of danger,” may have been climbing to get a biscuit from a cupboard but the windows had “faulty” restrictors and her ongoing complaints to get them fixed led only to a series of workmen who did not sort the problem. As she was being questioned by Mr Singh, Ms Osman became emotional and raised her voice, saying: “I did everything I could as a mum to protect my son.”
Aalim’s body was identified by his family and his cause of death has been listed as multiple injuries due to trauma from a “fall from height”, the inquest has previously heard. Ms Osman added: “You guys could have prevented this tragic thing from happening. If you had done your job, he could have been here.
Council Accused of Failure
“I think that Newham Council failed me as a mum, as a tenant. I tried everything. I tried to tell them my concerns about safety multiple time and you guys ignored me rather than doing anything about the actual issues. I told you my son (Aalim) has autism. I do not know what more I can prove. I showed you a GP letter. The people that knew him sent a letter to the council saying this family need to be moved from this flat because they are not safe.”
The court heard she sent an email telling them of Aalim’s autism diagnosis and Ms Osman said she also “believes” she sent a letter about it. Despite the engineers having been to look at the repairs, she felt the flat was still not safe and there were “open windows”, according to Ms Osman. All the windows were “always closed” before the family went to bed but the screams of her shouting “Aalim”, “window” and “outside” later alerted the family that something was very wrong.
Father's Discovery
Ms Osman told the court that 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”. 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.
Earlier, Ms Osman said when a window engineer came in January 2024 she tried “all the windows” in the flat and she could still open them. She had wanted a safety device, called a restrictor, on all the windows and noted that the bedroom window could be left “just open wide” saying “I was quite scared and it was unsafe”. The engineer said he would see about getting it fixed but within a day she had found a window restrictor on the floor.
Ongoing Complaints
She called the council to complain and begged them to help, telling the inquest “the window was wide open, it would not lock, it was hanging”, and she wanted to speak to a manager. She stressed it was a safety issue for her children, but said the council did not treat it as “an emergency”. Ms Osman said the “restrictors were not working, they were there for decoration” and she was frustrated as it could take months to get a proper response from the council.
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. Ms Osman insisted she had told the workmen there was a problem in all the rooms of the flat and accused the council of “not taking my situation seriously enough”. She told Mr Singh: “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.”
