Seventh floor bedroom window where toddler plunged to his death had been reported unsafe by his mother, inquest hears

A toddler plunged to his death from a seventh-floor bedroom window which had been reported as unsafe ‘many times’ by his mother, an inquest heard today.

Exodus Eyob, 22 months, died in a tragic accident in July last year after his big sister briefly left her bedroom with the window ‘about six inches’ open and the safety lock disengaged on a hot day.

The toddler was described as big for his age and able to climb on furniture. 

He and his brother were said to be banned from sister Reem Semere’s bedroom as the window was positioned over the bed and could easily be pushed open even when the safety device was engaged, Wakefield Coroner’s Court heard.

Mother Birikti Berihew, 42, told the hearing she had asked Leeds City Council to fit a second safety device – a cable that allowed the window to open just a few inches – but the authority allegedly refused despite it being fitted in some neighbouring flats. 

Exodus Eyob, 22 months, died in a tragic accident in July last year after his big sister briefly left her bedroom with the window ‘about six inches’ open

 Mother Birikti Berihew, 42, told the hearing she had asked Leeds City Council to fit a second safety device on the window

The baby boy died after falling from a window on the seventh floor of Saville Green block of flats in Leeds, West Yorkshire

Friends of Ms Berihew previously revealed the mother had complained to the council about the window.

She tearfully recalled how she searched for Exodus when he appeared to have vanished from the three-bedroom flat and noticed the window in the sister’s bedroom was open about two feet.

‘I looked out of the window and saw Exodus on the ground below the window,’ his mother told the inquest.

She rushed down and found him unconscious with blood coming from his nose and mouth.

Ms Semere, 21, dialled 999 as Ms Berihew cradled her son, screaming hysterically.

The toddler was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead from multiple injuries.

Ms Berihew, who had been a tenant in the council flat for 12 years and lived there with her three children, said she had repeatedly complained about the safety device being inadequate.

‘At times, if you pushed the window it would open wide, the push would override the restrictor,’ she said.

She had also asked to be moved from the seventh floor flat to the ground floor, but the council said there was no such housing available.

The inquest heard cables were fitted to some neighbours’ flats on 17 November 2020 as a second safety device and despite phoning the council that day to request the work be carried out in her flat it never was.

Ms Berihew told of her frustration at dealing with the authorities over the safety issue.

She said: ‘Whenever I got the opportunity I would go in person to the office and asked many times. I complained several times about the safety of the windows.’

Following the tragedy the windows were checked by an inspector and found to be satisfactorily safe, but the mother disagreed with the findings.

‘I’ve lived there for 12 years and the windows were not safe, nobody else can tell me otherwise, because I know better.’

 Birikti Berihew rushed down and found him unconscious with blood coming from his nose and mouth

She added: ‘Why didn’t the council take any notice of my concerns?’

Recalling the tragedy, Ms Semere said she left her bedroom with the window slightly open at 1pm. She said she went into the living room to hug her brothers before going into the kitchen to greet her mother.

Later when searching for Exodus her mother leaned so far out of the window she ‘had to hold her back’ and started screaming when she saw Exodus on the ground.

Ms Semere told the inquest that window safety ‘was a constant thing throughout my childhood’ and her mother would go ‘back and forth’ to the council about it.

The family’s solicitors, Ison Harrison, said Ms Berihew was concerned about her children falling from the window after becoming aware of the death of six-year-old Liam Shackleton, who fell from the window of a neighbouring tower block in 2011.

Following the 2011 fatal accident Leeds City Council was advised to make tenants aware of the placing of furniture below windows.

Zaheer Akhtar, a council housing officer who dealt with Exodus’s family, said he had received no training about advising tenants about this.

The council’s deputy head of property management Robert Goor checked the window in Ms Semere’s bedroom following the tragedy and found it satisfied safety guidelines.

He also tried to jar it open by using ‘excess force’ and found the restrictor worked correctly.

Source: Read Full Article