A happy and healthy two-year-old boy had an afternoon nap, but never woke up from it, leaving his family heartbroken after his mysterious death.
Little Liam Mwaita Musvinu was described as a “healthy and happy boy” at an inquest into his death held at Sheffield Coroners Court yesterday.
There had been no concerns about his health before his sudden and unexplained death in June last year.
Like parents up and down the country, Liam’s mum and dad, Paidamoyo and Joshua Musvinu, put the toddler down to nap at their home in Sheffield, but he would never wake up again.
Despite the inquest into the tragedy, his parents are still no closer to knowing what happened to their beloved son.
Saturday, 4 June 2022, began like any other as Liam awoke as normal and had a breakfast of porridge before being taken out with his family to the allotment.
Liam spent the day there before returning home around 4pm, on his way back snacking on peanuts and popcorn, YorkshireLive reported.
The only point of minor concern was a small cough he had, but his parents gave him a drop of calpol around 4.30pm and put him down to nap.
Around 7pm, Liam’s step-sister asked if she could wake him to make sure he would sleep through the night.
But when she went into the room where he slept with his parents, she found the youngster cold and unresponsive.
Dad Joshua immediately began resuscitation and 999 was called.
Even though paramedics raced to the scene shortly afterwards, and despite their best efforts, Liam would be pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Sheffield Children’s Hospital.
Resuscitation efforts officially ended at 8.13pm that evening.
Mr Stephen Eccleston, Assistant Coroner for South Yorkshire read evidence from a pathology report, a GP report and a police report into the record.
Sadly, all would shed little light on what had caused the death of the healthy young boy for Liam's parents.
A report compiled by paediatric pathologist Dr Sophie Stenton described Liam's death as puzzling with no obvious cause.
There was no evidence of trauma which could have led to his death on his body and no sign of serious illness.
Tests found that Liam had been suffering with a cold (rhinovirus) and an ear infection but nothing that was likely to have led to his death.
A toxicology report detected an antihistamine and an over the counter cold remedy, both of which had a sedative effect, but again both were ruled not to have been a likely cause of death.
A case of Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood (SUDIC) was considered but Liam's medical history again pointed to this being unlikely with no evidence of seizures.
Samples were also tested for intolerances to peanuts but the results were negative.
Assistant Coroner Mr Eccleston accepted the pathologist's report and recorded the cause of Liam's death as unknown. Making his own conclusion he was moved to record the case as an open conclusion.
An open conclusion is given where there is insufficient evidence to prove any other conclusion. This is rare and generally discouraged by the Chief Coroner’s Guidance as a “last resort”.
Mr Eccleston told Liam's parents: "I would like to thank you for being here in what has been extremely difficult circumstances. I would like to offer my sincere condolences, no parent should have to sit where you are sitting today."
