Chesterfield Coroner's Court heard how a heartbroken mother accidentally fed her 11-year-old son an Indian sweet which triggered a severe allergic reaction to peanuts, leading to his death. An inquest heard how Aaron O'Farrell went into anaphylactic shock after his mother, Jaywantee had put the Indian sweet into his mouth before he quickly spat it out.
Moments after tasting the sweet, Aaron started to complain that he was feeling unwell and began struggling for breath and just over an hour later, he passed away.
The sweet from a gift box had come from temple in Birmingham where his relatives had celebrated Navratri. He passed away on 28th September 2014.
The court heard that the sweets may have been contaminated by “Bombay-mix style” treats inside the carton box. The box contained no allergy warning labels and there were no indications that there was anything containing peanuts in the box.
Aaron's mother tearfully told the inquest, “If I had seen any peanuts in the box I would not have given it to him. And I would still have my son here today.”
She continued, “I took out one of the sweets, a white one. It looked like one we'd had before. I was confident it did not contain peanuts. I thought it was made with semolina or almonds and broke off a piece. I had a little and I popped some into Aaron's mouth. He said he did not like it and spar it out. Then he asked for a drink and I gave him some Vimto and a tangerine. But he started complaining about his throat and then started running wildly around the house, I was trying to calm him down.”
Aaron's father, James O'Farrell told the court, “My son came running into the lounge and said 'Dad, dad I can't breathe, I can't breathe. The next thing we knew he just collapsed on the floor and everything went into a panic. His eyes were open, but he was just staring through me. But as they put him into the ambulance he was conscious. Aaron looked back at me and the house and I thought he was going to be okay. Then I was sat in my car waiting to follow the ambulance to hospital, but we didn't move. Then after we drove off the flashing lights went on. We got to the hospital and waited. After an hour or so the doctor came out and told us Aaron had died.”
He went on to criticise Suraj Sweet Centre in Sparkhill, Birmingham, for not clearly labelling the boxes. He said, “There is so much negligence about not putting a warning on the box. They should be aware about this. They should have done this at the source. I just cannot understand it.”
Bhikhu Odedra, director at Suraj Sweet Centre said that the boxes supplied were not the ones they normally used. The festival organisers wanted to reduce the cost and hence, opted to use a different type of box and put both sweet and savoury treats together.
