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The Thea family, from left, Abu, Dan, Monique, Andre and Maina |
Family’s tribute to artist son ‘eager to live quickly’
Inquest records suicide verdict after plunge from 16th floor of tower block
THE family of an artist who threw himself to his death from a Finsbury Park tower block have paid tribute to a “much-loved father figure, eager to live quickly”.
Riri Wa Thea, 25, was found dead outside Ilex House in Crouch Hill, two streets from the house where he lived with his parents, on May 27. He had jumped from a staircase window on the 16th floor.
His father, Dan, a civil servant, praised his son’s “friendly, easy-going” nature. “He was very concerned about the welfare of his family,” he said. “He liked to be free and go his own way. He wanted to achieve, to be like his father. He really wanted to live up to the standard I’d set.”
The dead man’s adopted brother, Abu, said: “He was like a dad to me. He wouldn’t eat till I came home. He always looked out for me.”
A St Pancras inquest heard last week how Riri Wa Thea had taken 48 sleeping pills with a 500ml bottle of whisky two days before his death, then collapsed on the landing in front of his father, telling him he had overdosed.
Stuart Shepherd, a mental health liaison nurse at Whittington Hospital in Archway, said Mr Thea, who had a history of depression and panic attacks, had been kept under observation for four hours and interviewed about his mental state.
“He said he couldn’t remember whether he had wanted to kill himself,” Mr Shepherd told the inquest. “He had written notes saying he was sorry and he didn’t want to be a burden.”
When coroner Dr Andrew Reid asked Mr Shepherd whether he had considered admitting Mr Thea under the Mental Health Act, he replied: “As the assessment went on we felt the risk had passed. He said he was sorry and that he wouldn’t do it again and we took that at face value.”
Mr Thea was discharged after agreeing to see the hospital’s mental health team. He spent the next two days with his brother Maina and friends, who tried to cheer him up.
On the day of his death CCTV footage showed him waiting outside Ilex House, unable to gain entry, before ‘tailgating’ someone inside the building.
The inquest heard that he called his father moments before his death, but rang off before his dad could answer.
Three stacked £2 coins and Mr Thea’s fingerprints were found on the window sill of the 16th floor. The court heard evidence that the window had to be climbed out of.
Dr Reid said: “There was no evidence that he was suffering mental illness to the extent he would have to be sectioned.”
Verdict: suicide. |
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