A young Londoner was killed just days after moving into a rented property with his fiancé when an electrical fault turned the bath he was taking into a death trap, an inquest heard.
At a hearing on the 15th December in the St Pancras Coroners Court the Coroner (Ms. Mary Hassell) heard that Mr. Felix Owuor (32) was taking a bath when a fault in the electrical system in the property electrified the taps with live current. Mr. Owuor received a lethal electrical charge and as a consequence died instantly. The deceased had recently moved into the property with his fiancé Miss Mariven Manigos. Miss Manigos gave evidence that she had travelled to a friend’s house in Birmingham, to purchase a wedding dress for their forthcoming ceremony. She telephoned Mr. Owuor on the 17th of August 2015 at approximately 10pm and had a brief discussion but was then unable to contact him again. She raised the alert and Police forced entry to the property in the early hours of the morning of the 19th of August.
Mr Owuor was found in the bathtub with 3 inches of water still remaining. Officers were aware that there was clearly no assistance that they could give.
The Coroner heard expert evidence regarding the state of the electrical system and found that the crucial earth bonding between the supply and the main board was not present. Additionally there was no “cross bonding” of the earth system across the electrical circuitry. The townhouse in N5 near to the Emirates stadium was a property of multiple occupation and was split into 4 living units. The property is now subject to an improvement order issued by Islington Borough Council. Giving expert evidence Mr. Barry Kelly a domestic electrical expert, indicated that whilst the supply to the property had been functioning properly the consumer electrics were in a bad state of repair. There was no evidence that the electrical system had been systematically overhauled for over 40 years.
In giving her conclusion the Coroner stated “I find that the deceased received an electrical shock which was the cause of death, the electrical installation was not set up and maintained, it was old and inadequate”.
The deceased’s father Mr. Samuel Oguro stated “every day has been a struggle since our son met his death in that vile house. We have found support from our son’s fiancé Mariven, who tragically has also had her future plans torn away from her. We feel that Britain’s obsession with chasing profit from its housing stock is fundamentally flawed, we feel that this obsession is leading some landlords to treat people as commodities whose safety and security is secondary to profit.
Slum properties are no longer the scourge of the poor, the rising costs of living in this city mean both men and women of good decent incomes find themselves returning to homes that are unsafe or unsanitary. We thank the investigating Coroner and her officers for their support and thoroughness and we thank Mr. Balmforth of Applebys Solicitors for his representation. We thank God for the brief time we shared with our son, whose love we shall cherish for the remainder of our days. We shall continue to seek justice for our son and for the tightening of regulations on letting private property”.