The family of Awaab Ishak has accused the housing association which failed to tackle mould at their home in the months before his death of racism. Coroner Joanne Kearsley ruled that the two-year-old died after prolonged exposure to mould at their home, on Rochdale's Freehold estate, leading to fatal breathing difficulties.
His parents have now described the 'gruelling' torture they have faced since his death and feeling 'trapped' in their home before it, insisting Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) did not care about them. They also described being 'fearful' of the mould affecting their son, and the lack of certainty over legal aid for the family until days before the case was due to be heard.
Following six days of evidence at Rochdale Coroners Court, Ms Kearsley said RBH should have acted to deal with the issue between July 2020 and the toddler's death on December 21 that year. She also found that ventilation at their home was 'not effective', and criticised the landlord's approach of blaming the family for the problem - insisting there was 'no evidence that the ways of living by the family were in any way excessive'.
Ms Kearsley did not conclude the actions of RBH or Northern Care Alliance, the NHS trust which oversees Royal Oldham Hospital and Rochdale Urgent Care Centre, were gross failures that could amount to 'neglect'.
READ MORE: All the ways tragic two-year-old toddler Awaab Ishak was failed before his death
In a statement, RBH chief executive Gareth Swarbrick said he was 'truly devastated' by Awaab's death and insisted the organisation would learn lessons from it. During the course of the inquest, the court heard that a number of RBH workers assumed the family were taking on 'ritual bathing' involving a 'bucket' which was leading to excess water on the bathroom floor.
But workers never asked the family directly about this, and Mr Abdullah told the court his family showered, and such 'rituals' were not in his family's 'culture'. Ms Kearsley also criticised advice first given to Mr Abdullah to 'paint over the mould' in 2017, when he had never experienced the issue before.
Following the conclusion, a statement was read outside the court on behalf of Awaab's father Faisal Abdullah, who came to the UK from Sudan as an asylum seeker in 2015, and his wife Aisha Amin, who joined him in 2018. The statement said: "The past two years have been gruelling.
"When Awaab died, our lives changed forever. Today, two years on, the coroner has found that our little boy's prolonged exposure to mould led entirely to his death.
"We still cannot get our head around the fact that despite all of the complaints we made to RBH, in addition to the information RBH received from an NHS member of staff expressing their concern for Awaab due to mould at the property, RBH did absolutely nothing to rectify the severe mould in our property.
"We cannot tell you how many health professionals we've cried in front and RBH staff we have pleaded to expressing concern for the conditions ourselves and Awaab have been living in. We shouted out as loudly as we could, but despite making all of those efforts, every night we would be coming back to the same problem. Nothing was changing.
"We felt like we weren't getting anywhere, and we weren't. Often our calls weren't even answered. We don't feel RBH actually cared about us.
"Awaab's coughing fits would sometimes last two to three days. There were days we wouldn't be able to take Awaab out of the house because of how bad his coughing was - but of course by him staying in the house, this made his coughing worse. We were absolutely trapped.
"Living in these conditions affected every aspect of our lives. We didn't feel at peace with ourselves when in the property. All the time we felt troubled.
"We were anxious and fearful of what the mould was doing to Awaab. Whenever friends would come to visit, they would tell us that the conditions RBH were keeping us in 'were not right'.
"We have no doubt at all that we were treated this way because we are not from the country and less aware of how the systems in the UK work. RBH we have a message for you - stop discriminating, stop being racist, stop providing unfair treatment to people coming from abroad who are refugees or asylum seekers, stop housing people in homes you know are unfit for human habitation. We were left feeling absolutely worthless at the hands of RBH.
"If RBH ever come across similar issues again - we hope they deal with it in a more humane, efficient, professional way than how they behaved with us.
"We want to end by telling you who our beautiful Awaab was. He was always full of smiles, he liked to joke and was full of life and laughter. He used to enjoy playing on his bike and with his ball. He always wanted to be with us. His absence leaves a huge void.
"We would like to say a huge thank you for all the advice and support Farleys Solicitors and Christian Weaver of Garden Court North Chambers have given us throughout this difficult process. We would also like to thank HM Senior Coroner for carrying out such a thorough investigation into our son's death.
"Our lawyers very kindly worked on our case with no guarantee of payment. The legal aid agency only confirmed that the lawyers would be paid two days before the case started, despite preparations for the case having been ongoing for months and months. It should never be the case that families in our situation have to go through the inquest process without legal representation - singlehandedly up against multiple lawyers from the very bodies we feel bear responsibility for our child's death.
"Were it not for our legal team being so committed to representing us, even without payment, that could very well have been our reality. We fear that the admissions made by RBH in this inquest - such as their acceptance that they did receive the letter sent by the NHS health visitor warning of Awaab's ill heath, along with the fact that they do accept they should have taken responsibility for the mould in our home may otherwise never have come out.
"The family would now like to be left to process the findings of this inquest in private for the remainder of today."
What RBH said
Following the inquest, in a statement released by RBH, Mr Swarbrick said: “I am truly devastated about Awaab’s death and the things we got wrong. We know that nothing we can say will bring Awaab back or be of any consolation to his family. We have and will continue to learn hard lessons from this.
“We didn’t recognise the level of risk to a little boy’s health from the mould in the family’s home. We allowed a legal disrepair process, widely used in the housing sector, to get in the way of promptly tackling the mould.
“We must make sure this can never happen again. Awaab’s death needs to be a wake-up call for everyone in housing, social care and health. We will take responsibility for sharing what we have learnt about the impact to health of damp, condensation and mould with the social housing sector and beyond.
“We support the coroner and Housing Ombudsman’s call for the government’s Decent Homes Standard to be strengthened to include damp and mould, and the coroner’s decision to write to the Ministers of Housing and Health on this. The coroner recognised the changes we have made to our procedures, IT, communications and training.
"We note the coroner’s words that she was impressed with the learning RBH has taken and desire to share with others. As a result, she will not be issuing us with a Prevention of Future of Deaths Report. We agree with the coroner that the tragic death of Awaab will be and should be a defining moment for the housing sector.”
Following the family's allegation of racism against RBH, Mr Swarbrick added: "As a community owned organisation we support the diverse communities of Rochdale. We are proud of the work we do with all our tenants.”
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READ MORE ON THIS STORY:
- 'We complained so many times about mould in our home but they did nothing to help us
Coroner rules Awaab Ishak, 2, died after mould wasn't treated at his home
Awaab Ishak's death shames the country - this is what needs to change now
All the ways tragic two-year-old toddler Awaab Ishak was failed before his death
Actions leading to Awaab Ishak's death were 'unacceptable', Downing Street says
