- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
The mother of a severely allergic boy who died after cheese was thown at him has expressed her regret at not hugging her son a last time.
Rina Cheema’s son Karan died in July 2017 following a severe allergic reaction caused by a piece of cheese that was flicked at him by another pupil.
Karan died 10 days later.
“How could something like this have happened at school?” asks Rina in an exclusive interview with the Mail at the end of his inquest. “It’s the one place where he should have been safe.”
A tense moment at the four-day hearing at St Pancras Coroner’s Court came when the boy, who is now 15 and cannot be identified, apologised for throw cheese. “I just want to say that I didn’t mean any harm. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I did,” he said.
However, Rina, a 53-year-old divorced accountant, is finding it hard to forgive the boy.
“As a mother, how can I forgive? Karan was my only child, my absolute world. I’ve been left with nothing because of this boy’s sheer stupidity. He should have been charged with manslaughter and punished.”
Karan suffered allergies to dairy, wheat, gluten, eggs and nuts and suffered from asthma and eczema and he was vigilant about what he ate.
“It was the first thing he told anyone when he met them,” says Rina. “Everyone at school knew about it. Whenever we went to restaurants he would ask to speak to the manager and explain his condition.
“He was very confident like that. We never took any chances. One of his favourite treats was going to Nando’s for dinner and we never had any problems.”
Karan always carried an EpiPen, and Rina gave one to the school, along with antihistamine medicine, a spare asthma pump and hydrocortisone cream.
“I did everything I could to keep him safe,” she said. “But you can’t be with your child all the time.” Rina also said she finds it hard to forgive her son’s school, William Perkin C of E, for not doing the same.
