Schoolboy with severe peanut allergy collapsed and died after eating sweet that had been handed out at religious festival
Aaron O'Farrell went into anaphylactic shock after he popped the Indian treat
A SCHOOLBOY with a severe peanut allergy died after eating a sweet made from the nuts at a religious festival.
An inquest into the tragic death of Aaron O'Farrell at Chesterfield Coroner's Court heard there were no warnings on the packaging that the sweet was made entirely from peanuts.
The youngster had been at a Hindu religious festival in Birmingham, held 20 days before Diwali, the festival of lights.
The sweets were given out by organisers as worshippers left the event.
The 11-year-old was at home with his parents James and Jayne just before lunchtime when he ate a small piece of the sweet.
Within moments he started feeling sick and was given a soft drink, but soon began having difficulty breathing.
His brother gave him a shot from his epipen and he was still conscious when paramedics arrived, but then went into cardiac arrest.
By the time the ambulance had raced the seven miles from his semi-detached home in Doe Lea, Derbys, to Chesterfield Royal Hospital his heart had stopped beating.
Medics battled to save the "kind and courageous" youngster, but he was pronounced dead later in hospital.
Chesterfield Coroners Court heard Aaron had been diagnosed with a peanut allergy when he was five - after he had suffered skin rashes and a wheezy chest after being in the same room as peanuts.
A post mortem after the fatal incident on Sunday 28, September, 2014, showed an "abundance of mucus" and blood in his airways which was consistent with a severe allergic reaction.
Tests showed increase levels of the enzyme tryptase which confirmed Aaron had suffered anaphylaxis.
Aaron has started secondary school the day before he died.
He had attended an event to mark the Hindu festival of Navaratri with relatives.
As part of the event volunteers ordered food or "prasad" - offerings made to the diety - from the Suraj Sweet Centre in Sparkhill, Birmingham.
Former council social care co-ordinator Kailash Solanki from Solihull, West Mids, said she had been asked to arrange food which could be eaten by those at the event, many of whom were observing a fast.
Hindus abstaining from food are allowed to eat dried produce like nuts and milk, so these ingredients are often used to make prasad.
Mrs Solanki said she had seen a warning in the shop of the presence of peanuts in the food when placing the order, and her own son has an allergy to eggs.
The inquest heard there had been warnings on the packages, but these had been removed as the sweets were repackaged for the event.
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Aaron's father James asked Mrs Solanki: "When you went to the shop and saw the sign, did you not think to pass on that warning at the festival?
"I think it would have been common sense to relay that to the organisers, don't you think?"
Derbyshire's Assistant Coroner James Newman added: " The desert was made entirely of peanuts so this was not a question of 'may contain...."
"At that point it did not cross my mind," replied Mrs Solanki.
Aanother volunteer, business consultant Ajaysinh Rathod, 26, said it was "common knowledge" among Hindus the sweets contained nuts, even though he admitted other religions and non-religious people may attend the gathering.
He said there was no obligation to warn people of the potential hazards, but in the wake of the tragedy changes have been made and people are made aware the religious offerings may contain nuts.
Questioning Mr Rathod Aaron's father said: "Other businesses are aware of nut allergies. I'm concerned why wasn't this done at source and it got to the stage where my son passed away?
"The only things that have changed, have been changed recently and I believe it should have been done a long, long time ago.
"In my opinion this is all down to sheer ignorance, this should have been sorted at source, clearly saying what these sweets contained," added Mr O'Farrell, who now runs a charity raising awareness of peanut allergy.
Later the hearing was dramatically halted when a relative of Aaron's mother, Harish Ramchurn claimed she had been told Aaron's mother had given him the sweet.
No mention of this had been made before.
At that point the coroner adjourned the hearing to obtain a statement from Jayne O'Farrell, who had not attended the hearing.
Mr Newman said that because this had not been mentioned prior to the inquest the boy's mother must be given the right of reply.
The inquest was adjourned to a date yet to be fixed.
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