The death of a vulnerable four-year-old boy from starvation after being locked up with his dead mother in their apartment for two weeks has sparked outrage across Britain.
The boy’s mother, Esther Eketi-Mulo, died suddenly after suffering an epileptic fit at her council flat in Hackney, East London, last October and young Chadrack, who had autism, was mute and therefore unable to raise the alarm, died of starvation two weeks later.
He was eventually found clinging to his mother’s decomposing body after a family member raised the alarm.
This deeply disturbing case has raised serious questions about how on earth a child could have starved to death in Britain in 2017 without anyone noticing.
For in a society where there are more safeguards than ever regarding the protection of vulnerable children, how could a school-age boy with such disabilites have passed under the radar of so many institutions for quite so long — and with such devastating consequences?
For while staff at Chadrack’s school, Morningside Primary in Hackney, visited the tower block where he lived with his mother to find out the cause of his absence — Chadrack had been missing from school since the end of September — they were unable to get a response via the downstairs intercom and, after two visits, eventually gave up.
Coroner, Mary Hassell, who investigated the case, has now demanded a nationwide schools alert system to ensure pupil absences are properly investigated in a bid to prevent anything like this happening again.
She has sent a “Prevention of Future Deaths” report to the Department for Education (DfE), which is due to respond to her findings.
But while various authorities discuss what lessons can be learnt from this tragic case, friends and family of Esther and Chadrack are racked by guilt and are still struggling to explain how on earth it could have happened.
Certainly, those who spoke to the Mail paint a very different picture to that of an isolated mother and son left to die alone in an East London tower block.
“There were a lot of tears when they put Esther and her son together in the grave,” says a family friend.
“I remember one of Esther’s friends saying: ‘Esther, you loved your son too much and did not want to leave without him.'”
When Chadrack failed to turn up for lessons, several calls were made to Esther’s mobile phone, a standard practice in primary schools and some secondaries across the UK.
But the only number staff had on file belonged to Esther, meaning they were unable to call anyone else despite being concerned about Chadrack’s absence.
While staff did visit Trelawney House between three to five days after he failed to turn up in school, there was no reply at the intercom and they were unable to gain access to the building, despite visiting twice.
Esther’s family also telephoned her, but despite being unable to get a response did not think it meant anything serious.
Not long before her death, Esther had also separated from a long-term boyfriend. Had they still been together, he might also have been in a position to raise the alarm.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the tower block, neighbours were unaware of the horror unfolding in Esther’s flat.
Those who spoke to the Mail say that they saw and heard nothing to give them any cause for concern.
Distressingly, they didn’t recognise the smell of decomposition emanating from the flat after Esther’s death and put it down to cooking smells.
Justin King, a 46-year-old nurse who lives next door to the flat, was away in Africa at the time she died and, when he returned, didn’t notice that anything was wrong. “It is so sad,” he says.
“It makes me so upset when I think I could have been his saviour, but I just didn’t think anything was wrong.
“The police explained that she had a fit, banged her head and bled to death. Esther seemed a lovely, kind woman and her son was very sweet, but they were withdrawn as a family and to not hear from them didn’t seem strange.
“I wish I had thought more of not seeing them and been able to save his life. I did not hear the cries of the child and he could not raise the alarm.”
Another neighbour, aged 35, tells a similar story: “It has haunted me for a long time that I could have helped and I didn’t know. Chadrack needed feeding and watering. He passed away because he was hungry, not because something happened to him.
“I keep thinking: “Did I hear him?” But he never spoke. He just hid behind his mum and held on to her clothes. He couldn’t even call out or speak through the letterbox.
An anguished neighbour also queried: “It haunts me that I could have helped and I didn’t know. That little boy passed away because he was hungry. I keep thinking: Did I hear anything?”
In the end it was his uncle who came to find out why Esther wasn’t answering the phone. As soon as he stepped out of the lift, says the friend who spoke to the Mail, he knew from the smell that something was wrong and called the police, who made a forced entry.
According to the coroner’s findings, Chadrack had probably only been dead for a couple of days at most when he was found on October 20.
“The likelihood is that Chadrack lived alone in the family home for over a fortnight after his mother’s death,” wrote Hassell. “He was found a couple of days after his own death, with his arms around her body. She was by then very decomposed.”
Another friend believes that given Chadrack’s disability, social services should have been involved in his welfare. “I blame the school and social services,” says the friend. “For nobody to go to the home for over two weeks, it doesn’t make sense. Someone should have checked.”
Speaking at her daughter’s funeral, Esther’s mother, Bebe, said: “You know how we loved you too much. The door was always open to you in our home. I forgive the people who are trying to blame us without knowing the reality. We love you too much. Rest in peace.”
Nor do the family blame Chadrack’s school. They invited the headmistress, and three members of staff, to his funeral.
Esther’s stepfathe, Mabu Koss, told the Mail that the family had no questions for the authorities.
“Esther is gone,” he said. “She’s gone. It’s finished.”
Morningside headteacher, Janet Taylor, says she has “worked closely with the authorities” to consider “what more schools can do in situations like this”. She has already implemented a new system at the school.
She now insists that for every pupil, the school has the telephone number of three different adults on file. If a child fails to attend school and none of these adults can be contacted then a member of staff is immediately sent to the family home. If they cannot get an answer, they will contact the police without delay.
Epilepsy affects more than half a million people in the UK . Around 600 people die a year due to unexpected death from the condition
In a statement, Ms Taylor said: “Chadrack’s tragic death has devastated all those who knew him. We will remember him as a happy little boy.”
Writing in her report, Hassell said: “This protocol seems very sensible but is clearly driven by the appalling tragedy of Chadrack’s death.
“It seems unlikely that other schools in Hackney, elsewhere in London, or indeed in the rest of England and Wales, have such a system in place. In my opinion action should be taken to prevent future deaths.”
Esther and Chadrack (inset: the tower block they lived and died in) 