Daughter recalls final text before mum and sister were found dead

SHE MADE VISITS TO HOUSE BUT NO-ONE ANSWERED

- By RUCSANDRA MOLDOVEANU

A "TRULY loving" mother failed to engage with a number of agencies in the years before she and her teenage daughter were found dead in their home.

Alphonsine Leuga, 47, and Loraine Choulla, 18, had been dead for "weeks to months" before their bodies were discovered inside their council house in Hartley Road, Radford, on May 21 last year.

The mother's provisional cause of death has been established as pneumonia of uncertain cause, while the daughter's cause of death will be determined by an inquest, which started on Monday at Nottingham Coroners' Court. It is expected to conclude tomorrow.

The hearing was told on Tuesday that Alphonsine, originally from Cameroon, moved to the UK from Italy in 2016 with daughters Loraine and elder sibling Elvira Choulla.

The family moved to Hartley Road in June 2019.

In a statement signed by Elvira and read out by coroner Amanda Bewley, the elder sister said she moved out of the family home in April 2022 and her relationship with her mother initially remained "very happy and healthy."

Elvira explained she would visit her mother and sister, who was entirely dependent on her mother and had Down Syndrome, four times a week.

She said: "I began to work more hours and, due to this, I could only visit once a week, but would always call Alphonsine to have short but sweet conversations about how I was doing and I would also speak to Loraine, which made us happy.

"This continued until July 2023, when Alphonsine took Loraine on holiday to Africa but did not tell me she was doing this until they had arrived.

"This upset me. When I spoke to Alphonsine about this, our relationship began to deteriorate. They came back in September 2023 and we began to speak less and less. It went from once a week to maybe every few weeks."

Elvira said the last time she saw her mother and sister was in November 2023, when she visited their address and had "a lovely time together".