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Henock Legesse Eshete |
‘Sunny’ student killed himself after discharge
Mental patient found hanged days later
AN art student with a history of mental illness killed himself less than a week after doctors discharged him as a low-risk patient with a “sunny disposition”, an inquest heard.
Henock Legesse Eshete, 32, was discovered hanged at his home in the Burmarsh estate on Marsden Street, Queen’s Crescent, last October.
A suicide note ending with the words “Nobody will find me OK” was found near his body.
Staff from the Grove Centre, near the Royal Free Hospital, managed by the Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust, told St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Thursday that Mr Eshete’s mental state had “considerably improved” in the months before his death and that the student, who fled civil unrest in Ethiopia in 1993, had been “optimistic”.
But during the inquest a picture emerged of an intensely private man, disturbed by a diagnosis of mental illness.
Yared Eshete, his brother, said being taken away from home had been a “big issue” and Henock had felt stigmatised by neighbours because he was “in and out of hospital” so frequently.
An argument with neighbours about the volume of Mr Eshete’s music, culminating in an alleged stabbing, led to him being sectioned under the Mental Health Act in July, the court heard.
Mr Eshete had been on the centre’s books since an attempted overdose 10 years earlier.
Despite known suicidal tendencies, psychiatrist Dr Philip Harrison Reid told the inquest that concerns surrounding his release were “focused on the protection of others” and that the patient had showed no signs of suicidal thoughts during the two months in his care.
He said: “When I saw him he was occasionally angry about his psychiatric illness, but most of the time his disposition was sunny.”
Lucy Keating, a psychiatric nurse at the centre, said: “He was quite chaotic in his behaviour.”
Yared added: “I’ve never known Henock to harm anybody. He did not want to affect others with his problems.”
Doctors were in the process of carrying out a full risk assessment when Mr Eshete died.
He was last seen eating in the ward the day following his discharge. The alarm was raised four days later when he failed to keep a psychiatric appointment.
Returning a verdict of suicide, Coroner Dr Andrew Reid said: “It was his intention to take his own life. This was in the context of enduring mental illness.” |
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