Heartbreaking photos show the ‘ineligible’ condition that a seven-year-old boy was allegedly forced to call home.
Laura Heath, 39, has gone to Coventry Crown Court for trial on charges of murder following the death of her son Hakim Hossain.
He died in November 2017 after a severe asthma attack.
His body was discovered in the “frozen garden” of a house in Birmingham’s Nichels.
Two ambulances rushed to the spot but paramedics could not save the schoolboy.
Hakim’s mother has been charged with aggravated assault, including possession of heroin and crack cocaine at an early age.
The jury was told that drugs were Heath’s “first priority in life.”
Allegedly, he used to wrap his son’s inhalers in foil so that he could use them for smoking drugs.
Hakim was also forced to sleep on a sofa in his home in a ‘bad’ condition, the court heard.
The smell of cigarettes washed away his clothes at school and his jumper smelled of urine.
Further photographs shown to the jury depict two compact rooms where Heath and Hekim lived.
They moved from a property in Long Acre to a house on Cook Street, both of which moved into the Nichels and both of which were left behind.
The gruesome images show piles of bags and boxes piled inside a bed, as well as other ‘unclean’ rooms that have been described as ‘smelling of raw smoke’.
The court heard that Hakim’s breathing problems continued to worsen day by day and, the night before he was found dead, he went out alone to get some fresh air.
No medicine was found next to his body, and an autopsy concluded that the cause of Hakim’s death was a sharp rise in asthma.
Hekim was also known for social services and was classified as ‘vulnerable’ due to concerns about ‘neglect, attendance issues and his home life’.
A child protection meeting was held two days before the death.
There, a school nurse desperately warned that Hakim was in danger of dying and should be removed from his mother.
The Birmingham Mail reports that Hakim attended only 15 and 15 schools out of 52 school days from September 2017 until his death in November.
It was decided, however, that he should not be removed from Heath’s care despite his ‘serious risk of harm’.
Friends also told the court how they saw drugs in Heath’s smoking class when Hekim was feeling sick in the next room – just 24 hours before his death.
Heath, no specific address, denied gross negligence murder.
He confessed to the four child abuse cases by failing to provide her with proper medical care and exposing her to heroin and crack cocaine.
The trial continues.
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