Tragic dad ‘scared of own shadow’ before his arrest
FATHER HAD TAKEN COCAINE, PARTNER TELLS INQUEST
THE partner of a dad-of-four who died after being restrained by police said he was ‘paranoid’ and was ‘scared of his own shadow’ prior to the officers who arrested him arriving.
Andre Moura, 30, was detained by officers outside his family home in Oldham in July, 2018, after a number of 999 calls from his longterm partner about his behaviour.
After a struggle, he was placed naked in a police van and taken to Ashton Police station in Tameside.
Once there, a custody nurse who examined him said he was not breathing and that she was unable to find a pulse. He was taken to hospital where he was declared dead in the early hours of July 7.
Mr Moura’s partner Catia Regueria gave evidence at an inquest into his death being heard before a jury at South Manchester Coroners Court in Stockport.
She said at the time they had been in a relationship for 12 years and they had four children together. She said he had struggled with his mental health, suffering from anxiety and also that he was ‘paranoid sometimes.’
She said she knew that he used cocaine ‘on and off’ but that ‘most of the time he hid it from me as he knew I didn’t like it.’
She said she had seen him take the drug on the afternoon of July 6 which prompted her to ask him to leave before calling the police.
When asked by the coroner why she had initially rang the police she said: “I hoped he would stop, stop his behaviour as I hadn’t had any sleep that night.”
She added: “I was tired, distressed and I had the kids. I was scared. I just wanted to rest, it’s hard to explain.”
Asked what it was about his behaviour that was concerning her she said he had not been violent but ‘he was just in a state that was not normal.’ Officers attended and asked Mr Moura to spend the night elsewhere but he returned to the property prompting Ms Regeuira to ring the police several times.
She described him remaining outside the property on Seventh Avenue ‘staring’ at it from across the street, saying on one occasion he ‘scared’ a delivery driver who came to drop off a takeaway for her and the children. “I didn’t know what to do,” she said, adding: “He was that paranoid. Scared of his own shadow.”
Asked how their children responded, she said: “They were just scared. They didn’t know what was happening. They just thought their dad was poorly.”
She said at one point he climbed through a window to get back into the house, prompting her final call to police. It was following this call that officers attended around 11.30pm and decided to arrest Mr Moura for a ‘breach of the peace.’
Ms Regueria said officers later asked her for some clothes and Mr Moura’s Sertraline medication, which he took for anxiety.
Asked if she was aware of what was happening outside she said: “I didn’t see anything. I had the TV on, I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t really hear anything. I didn’t even realise what happened until they knocked on my door. I thought he just went to jail for the night and he would ring me in the morning. That’s what I was expecting, take him to hospital, I don’t know.”
Asked by Marc Willems KC, representing the family: “Did you inform the police he had taken cocaine? She replied ‘yes.’ She also confirmed she had informed them about his mental health issues. “That’s why they asked for his medication,” she said.