40 year-old Elmas Ozmico died in Dover in July 2003 after developing scepticaemia,
following a 9-day journey from Turkey to England on the back of a lorry.
An inquest in May 2005 found that Mrs Ozmico had died of natural causes,
a verdict challenged by Mrs Ozmico's husband, Haci Pekkelo. Although the
cause of death was not disputed and despite agreement between all the parties
in the inquest, Mr Pekkelo felt that the jury was misdirected by Roger Hatch,
Deputy Coroner for Central and South East Kent. The Coroner left it to the
jury to decide whether they wished to give a 'narrative' verdict, which involved
answering a series of agreed questions, providing a more detailed verdict.
The jury did not take up the option of a narrative verdict and any question
of 'neglect' was as a consequence not addressed.
Yesterday, the judicial review into the coroner's direction failed when Mr
Justice Hodge handed down his judgment, in which he said he believed the
Coroner had correctly directed the jury. After the judgment, Mr Pekkelo said:
'I am very disappointed with this outcome. Almost three years on from my
wife's untimely death, my children and I are left in a limbo. I believe my
wife would have had a better chance of survival, had proper medical attention
been provided to her much sooner, when she was calling out for a doctor.
I will continue to seek the true reasons for her death. I feel racism might
have played a role through this whole episode.'
Milena Buyum, Co-ordinator of the National Assembly Against Racism who have
supported Mr Pekkelo in the last three years said: 'This result is a blow
to Mr Pekkelo and his family. It seems finding out the truth about the exact
circumstances of Mrs Ozmico's death has to go all the way to the end of the
legal process. All Mr Pekkelo has wanted in this ordeal is to know whether
his wife would be alive today, had the authorities in whose care she was
acted promptly. This surely is the least the inquest and legal system in
Britain could offer to a bereaved husband and their two children.'