My heart is full of the pain and grief of Grenfell
» ‘Shame’ of resident in flat where fire began » Dad’s heartbreak at tot stillborn after blaze
THE man who lived in the flat where the Grenfell Tower fire began says the disaster has left him as “a ghost of a man”.
I can’t really say I am any better. My partner and kids live with a ghost of a man
BEHAILU KEBEDE OCCUPANT OF FLAT WHERE FIRE WAS SPARKED
A statement by Behailu Kebede was read out yesterday at the start of Grenfell Testimony Week, an event which was put together after a compensation deal was reached last year for people affected by the June 2017 tragedy in West London.
A legal hearing in May was told there had been a settlement of about 900 cases and a global sum of about £150million compensation agreed.
Before the testimonies began, the names of all those who died were read aloud, followed by a 72-second silence – one for each life lost.
Behailu, who was born in Ethiopia, said he came as a refugee to the UK in 1992. He said: “I know, in my head, that the fire was the fault of RBKC [the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea], Celotex, the Government... in my heart – which is full of fear and grief, it was in my flat, my kitchen, where it started. It’s a deep pain, a shame that I carry.”
Behailu was cleared of blame by the official inquiry into the tragedy but felt unable to attend the community’s marches or the inquiry.
He said: “I did not have the courage. I can’t really say I’m any better [today]. My partner and my children live with a ghost of a man.”
Organisers of the four-day event said it is being held to give the bereaved, survivors and residents an opportunity to “speak directly to organisations that many hold responsible for the fire”.
Marcio Gomes, the father of a baby stillborn following the blaze, described the life his son could have had, telling the firms represented: “This is what you have taken away from me.”
Marcio and his wife Andreia Perestrelo were expecting their third child on August 21,
2017, but Logan was stillborn in hospital following the fire. The couple lived with their two daughters in the North Kensington tower for 10 years, and all four escaped the inferno.
Other testimonies included Emma O’Connor, who lived on the 20th floor and managed to escape with her partner that fateful night.
Ms O’Connor, who is disabled, said: “I still struggle every day with survivor’s guilt.”
The 24-storey tower was covered in flammable cladding in a refurbishment which finished in 2016.
Representatives from Celotex, Exova, London Fire Brigade, Kingspan Rydon and Whirlpool Corporation all accepted invitations.
Cllr Kim Taylor-Smith of the RBKC attended, as did representatives of the Home Office and Ministry of Housing, which was run by Eric Pickles from 2010 to 2015, and who gave evidence to the inquiry.
Inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick was among those gathered at Church House in Westminster, sitting alongside lead counsel Richard Millett KC.
Arconic, which supplied the cladding, helped fund the testimony week but was not represented.