Last week, an inquest jury found that the death of mentally ill Sean Rigg in police custody followed the use of unnecessary force. Here, his sister describes her anguish in a comment piece for The Guardian.
By Samantha Rigg-David,
On the night of 21 August 2008, I was woken by a call from the police that would change our lives forever. They said they needed to talk to me face to face and that it concerned Sean. They asked if they could come to the house. It was around 2.30am. I frantically called my brother and sister. They were beside themselves with worry. I said I would call them back as soon as I knew what was going on.
When a call comes in the middle of the night, and the police subsequently knock on your door, your heart beats fast and your mind races; it is bound to be bad news – and it ended up being the worst possible news we could have imagined. When they arrived, I was told by two female police officers that Sean had “passed away”. I immediately felt a great stab and a wave of grief came over me. Our worst fear of what could possibly happen to Sean had come true. He had suffered with mental illness for 20 years. With tears, I remembered the first time I saw him after he had been arrested by Tooting police during his first psychotic episode. I was led to a cell; I held him in my arms and cradled his head; he didn’t recognise me at all; he was in a straitjacket and looked in my eyes with despair that I will never forget.
I was 18 years old. I was back in that moment in my hallway 20 years later being told that Sean was dead. They told us scant information that Sean had been arrested and had just “collapsed”. What they were saying made no sense. I was told he couldn’t be identified by the family because he was in a body bag. They wanted me to identify him by his passport – I was in shock at their stupidity.
I asked my husband to pick up my brother, Wayne, who lived locally. Wayne was immediately sceptical, having seen on the news the fate of Frank Ogboru being restrained by police officers to the point of death only a few weeks before. I knew we needed to seek legal advice immediately. We went online right there and then; the police officers wanted to leave after a while, but we held them there while we called friends over who could support and ask questions.
Without hesitation, we began our own investigation into how Sean died while in the hands of Brixton police. We did not stop until we uncovered everything we possibly could. We got the best lawyers, support and advice from Inquest, held vigils and marches to bring awareness. We felt we owed it to Sean, as we could see that the police were doing their best to cover things up. We left no stone unturned: we challenged, argued, asked far-reaching and probing questions.
Breaking the news to our mother was the most devastating thing we have ever had to do. It is never right for a mother to have to bury their child. We took a lot of the pressure off our mother, by fighting hard to get to the truth. It has taken us four long years.
Sean gasped his last breath alone on a cold floor without his family or anyone near that cared enough to get him the help that he desperately needed. The family will never to come to terms with that.
The stigma of mental illness needs to be broken down, because there are a lot of people and families suffering. They are so misunderstood. We will do all we can to talk about this issue and ensure these things to not happen to others. Families need help and understanding to deal with these issues. It is a hard road to travel.
