An inquest has heard the tragic case of a young woman who died after being hit by a car while sitting in the road. Antonia St Louis, 27, suffered 'unsurvivable injuries' in a crash in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester on the early morning of November 28 2020, the Manchester Evening News reports.
The inquest at South Manchester Coroners' Court heard St Louis and a friend walked along a road before crossing, and stopping in the middle of the three lanes. CCTV footage showed Antonia sitting on the floor.
She was hit at around 3.40am by a Volkswagen Golf driven by a man. Charges were not brought against him, who stayed on the unlit road to assist police. The court heard St Louis died at the scene.
The court was told by forensic collision reconstruction officer PC Paul Terry that the driver was travelling at around 40mph at the point of collision, and due to the dark conditions and the unlit nature of the road, did not have enough time to react. Pathologist Dr Charles Wilson told the court that alcohol and cocaine were found in Ms St Louis' system. Dr Wilson said the fractures and internal injuries led to her dying 'quickly', giving her cause of death as 'chest injuries'.
The court also heard from numerous mental health specialists regarding Ms St Louis' mental health at the time of her death. Coroner Adrian Farrow and Ms St Louis' family raised concerns over aspects of her care, which included her discharge from a mental health ward to a home-based team at the end of September and was also explored in the inquest as there was a delayed transfer of care to the Tameside community team.
Concerns around a delay in appointing a care coordinator to stay in contact with Ms St Louis were raised. Mr Farrow believed a referral should have been made to a drug and alcohol service, which despite being mentioned in notes from numerous clinicians was never actioned.
The court heard that she was sectioned in September 2020, and was in this care for more than a week while her mental health improved. She was discharged to a home-based treatment team, with Sara Daglish, a ward manager who worked on the same ward that Ms St Louis stayed in, said her mental state improved during her time there, and she became more aware of the impact consuming alcohol and drugs would have on her mental health.
She had a meeting with home-based teams during early October and was considered a low risk to herself and others, but was discharged in mid-October after making threats to staff and missing two weeks of meetings.
She then saw Dr Laura Kamal from the community mental health team based in north east Manchester, who said she had 'no immediate concerns'. Dr Kamal did have concerns about her transfer of care to Tameside’s community mental health team, which had been delayed since her discharge from the home-based team.
Ms St Louis' aunt Tanya Roxbrough said the beautician was a 'lovely girl' who 'loved her family' and was 'quite a character'. She said her niece struggled during the first Covid lockdown, which had a knock-on effect on her mental health.
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