A seven-year-old girl died after being strangled by the cords of her hoodie — that is, a hooded sweatshirt with strings that can tighten the hood around the wearer’s head.
As The Guardian reports, a coroner’s inquest looked into the tragic death of Kimora Zondo of Cardiff, Wales, after the young lady died from choking. Determined to find out if the girl had died from abuse or from a tragic accident, the inquest looked into the facts and determined that the girl had become strangled when the cords of her hoodie somehow got wrapped around a door handle. Officials are still unclear how that happened. When police interviewed her older brother, one of the individuals on the scene according to the BBC , they received a heartbreaking response.
“When I opened the door I found her head was hanging off the handle and took her to mum who checked her and started tickling her but there was nothing.”
Back on March 7, Kimora came home from school and changed out of her school uniform and into the loose-fitting, comfortable garment. Her nine-year-old brother was there, as was her mother, Vonnie Dube. Dube went to take a nap, while it’s unclear what the unnamed young boy did in the ensuing hour or so.
At some point, the mother woke up and asked the boy where Kimora was — he said that she was “pretending to be sleepy.” Kimora was actually unresponsive, having been strangled by the cords and deprived of oxygen. She was rushed to a hospital, where she later died.
Latest News Kimora Zondo, 7, died after hood caught on door https://t.co/446yLYqvrK pic.twitter.com/tmV2daZ7bo
— Jackie Paige (@fashion_4_me) September 14, 2018
Using dummies the same height and weight as Kimora, and employing a replica of the door handle, according to the BBC, authorities tried to determine how Kimora could have possibly wound up in such a position. Pathologist Dr Richard Jones testified that, though his team was unable to recreate the exact circumstances of the young girl’s death, he’s satisfied that she was not murdered.
“If you asked the question ‘Is it possible for a child wearing a hooded top to actually be suspended from that handle in the manner which is suggested by her brother?’ then yes it’s possible but quite how she got into that position I can’t say.”
Coroner Nadim Bashir agreed.
“In the circumstances the only possible explanation that can be given in this case was a hole in the hoodie and Kimora was in the hallway with her head close to the the handle to allow her to get caught on the handle, was unable to extricate herself in the second it would take to lose consciousness, and death quickly thereafter.”
This is not the first time such a tragic death has occurred. As the Inquisitr reported in 2015, 17-year-old Adam Cullen died after getting his hoodie caught on a gate.
