Mahlet Debas died in Dagenham after taking cocaine, court told

Mahlet Goshu Debas lived in “semi-supported living accommodation for people with mental health issues,” a coroner was told on Tuesday, October 29.

Emergency services were called to the facility in Surrey Road, Dagenham, on June 13 after Miss Debas was found unresponsive.

“She was found in her friend’s room,” coroner’s officer Jean Smyth told a brief inquest opening hearing at East London Coroner’s Court, Walthamstow.

“Her friend and Miss Debas had spent the previous evening taking a concoction of drugs, including diazepam, zopiclone and cocaine,” she told coroner Nadia Persaud.

Zopiclone is a sleeping tablet and diazepam, also known as valium, is also a sedative which can induce feelings of euphoria.

Paramedics attended but pronounced Miss Debas dead at the scene at 10.25am.

Police conducted “numerous enquiries”, Mrs Smyth said, but ultimately deemed the death non-suspicious and referred it to the coroner.

A post-mortem investigation found Miss Debas had died from acute cardiorespiratory failure caused by combined drug use.

Depressive disorder was also a contributing factor, a pathologist ruled.

“I’m satisfied on those facts that this death occurred in circumstances requiring an inquest,” said Mrs Persaud. “The inquest will be opened and adjourned for further investigations to take place.”

She declared Miss Debas’s family interested persons, giving them the right to interrogate evidence and question witnesses at her inquest next year.

She asked the family to provide a statement including “any information they can provide about her mental health leading up to her death” and “any concerns about her death”.

The coroner said she would need Miss Debas’s GP records, reports from police and paramedics and any mental health service records.

She said she would also need statements from the supported accommodation provider and from any drug or alcohol service Miss Debas had been under.

The inquest was set for April 8.