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Anger on day six of Grenfell Inquiry
Survivors and those left bereaved by the Grenfell Tower fire have expressed anger about the building’s refurbishment and advice given out on the night of the atrocity.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry continued today in Kensington with more memorials for those killed in the blaze on 14 June last year.
Paulos Tekle, who lost his five-year-old son Isaac Paulos in the fire, said he was repeatedly told to stay in their flat on the tower’s 18th floor until around 2.45am.
“Every day I ask myself the same question: what if we had not listened and we had left right then and there. I am living with the trauma of asking myself this question every day,” he said.
“This ‘what if’ makes my head and heart explode with pain and anger.”
He said that at 2am, a firefighter “physically stopped” him from leaving his flat and told him to wait.
He added that if he had not listened to the fire brigade his son would likely still be alive and that he “cannot bear” to look at himself in the mirror.
Mr Tekle said Isaac “made us happy every day”, while in a video one of the child’s teachers said “he had so much to live for; he had such a bright future ahead of him”.
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Ahmed Elgwahry, who lost his mother Eslah and his sister Mariem to the fire, said his loved ones were “murdered and cremated” in Grenfell.
“We have been here before, let’s not kid ourselves,” he said.
“No family, and I mean no family, should have to endure such a catastrophic event. And this was preventable. It was not an accident.”
Mr Elgwahry said that Mariem, a 27-year-old marketing professional who was due to have an interview for her “dream job” the next day, had previously raised concerns about the safety of refurbishment works which saw cladding fitted to Grenfell.
And he described speaking to his sister on the phone and hearing her and their mother’s last words before they succumbed to the smoke and flames.
“If that’s not torture then I’m not really sure what is,” he added.
Later in the day, the mother of Gloria Trevisan, a 26-year-old architect who had lived in flat 206, said (in Italian) that she feels “a lot of anger” about what happened to her daughter, but that she hopes this will be “a catalyst to seek the truth”.
“I wish the person or persons who chose to put that cladding on Grenfell Tower will feel in their conscience the pain and the grief they have caused to all of us,” she added.
Hassan Awadh Hassan, supported by several friends and relatives, read tributes to his wife, Rania Ibrahim, and their young daughters Fethia and Hania Hassan, who were four and three.
Rania “was a very good person”, he said, and together the family “had a beautiful time”.
He was in an airport in Egypt when he heard that Grenfell was on fire – but said he thought his family would be safe because they were in London and so bought chocolates for his daughters.
Mr Hassan sat with his head in his hands as family photos and videos were shown to the inquiry.
He said Kensington and Chelsea Council had moved the family to Grenfell Tower in 2015 and that his wife had been concerned about fire safety at the time, but that he had reassured her based on advice from a friend.
Moving to Grenfell was his “biggest mistake”, Mr Hassan said.
His message to Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who is chairing the inquiry, was: “Please, please work from inside your heart to give justice, and for other families needing to be safe. We need for this not to happen again, in London or the whole UK.”
The inquiry heard that Shiva Aghlani, daughter of Sakineh Afrasiabi who lived in flat 151 and died in the fire, was “too overwhelmed” to attend, but her solicitor read out a statement on her behalf.
Ms Aghlani said she was only able to bury her mother’s tooth and a small piece of her jawbone.
“There was a terrible fire and no one came for them – they were left to burn to ashes,” the statement read.
“Why did they let them burn for so long?”
She said that her mother had been “her only true friend”.
The father of Mohammed Alhajali, 24, who lived in flat 112, also voiced anger about the safety of the tower and advice given to victims of the fire.
Speaking in Arabic via a translator, he questioned why more safety measures were not in place and said it was “criminal” that people were told to stay put for two hours.
When Bernard Richmond QC, who was directing the hearing, interrupted Mr Alhajali’s father and said these matters would be discussed further in the inquiry, people gathered in the room called out “let him speak”.
The inquiry will continue with a final day of commemorations to the victims tomorrow.
More from the Grenfell Inquiry
Holborn Bars, London, where the inquiry sessions are taking place
Here are all our reports from the Grenfell Inquiry so far:
30 May: Grenfell Council 'recognised it should not house disabled victim above four storeys'
29 May: Anger on day six of the Grenfell Inquiry
25 May: Grenfell families 'forced to live in chimney with stay put policy'
24 May: Grenfell family complained about father being housed on 17th floor
23 May: Tributes to children on third day of Grenfell hearings
22 May: Emotions run high as Grenfell bereaved shown footage of the tower burning
