Allergy sufferer ‘unlawfully killed’ by meal
A 15-YEAR-OLD allergy sufferer was unlawfully killed when she unknowingly ate a takeaway meal containing peanuts, a jury has heard.
Megan Lee, who was diagnosed with a peanut allergy aged eight, endured an asthma attack a few hours after she and a friend ordered food online from the Royal Spice Takeaway in her home town of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, via the Just Eat website.
Her friend wrote “prawns, nuts” in the comments and notes section of the online order form for food which did not normally contain either ingredient, Manchester Crown Court was told.
Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said staff paid no attention to the entry and served a meal including an onion bhaji, a Peshwari naan and a seekh kebab which tests later showed had the “widespread presence” of peanut protein.
After the delivery was dropped off at her friend’s home on December 30 2016 the girls shared the food but Megan suffered an “immediate reaction” when she began to eat the kebab.
Mr Wright said Megan went upstairs to her bedroom but shortly after Mrs Lee heard her daughter call out.
He said: “Megan was in a state of distress. Her lips were swollen and blue, she was struggling to breathe and an ambulance was called. Megan’s condition continued to deteriorate. She stopped breathing and her heart stopped.”
Mrs Lee and paramedics tried in vain to revive Megan but she had suffered irreversible brain damage and was pronounced dead at hospital on the morning of January 1.
The takeaway’s owner, Mohammed Abdul Kuddus, 40, and Harun Rashid, who the Crown say was effectively the manager of the shop, deny manslaughter.
Kuddus, of Blackburn, pleaded guilty to failing to discharge a general duty of employers, contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act, and another count of failing to put in place a permanent procedure in contravention of food safety regulations. He also entered guilty pleas to the same offences on behalf of Royal Spice Takeaway Limited, trading as Royal Spice Takeaway. Rashid, of Haslingden, who delivered the meal, pleaded not guilty to those charges. The trial continues.