More than two years after the horrifying loss of 11-month-old Zakari William Bennett-Eko his family are still trying to rebuild their lives.
The baby boy was thrown to his death in the River Irwell by his father, Zak Bennett-Eko. THe 23, had been suffering from severe paranoid schizophrenia and is now being held in a secure hospital where he could stay for the rest of his life.
For the rest of Zakari's family, the years since his death have been gruelling. It is only now that the youngster's relatives can begin to get their own lives back on track.
"We will always love him and he will always be with us in our hearts," Zakari's grandmother said following the conclusion of a long-running inquest into the child's death.
Baby Zakari died of immersion in cold water at the Royal Bolton Hospital on September 11, 2019, after his father had cast him into the River Irwell at Radcliffe on that fateful day. He had been in the water for 45 minutes when he was pulled out.
It was a year after the tragedy that dad Zak Bennett-Eko, was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and sentenced to a hospital order. The judgement means he might never walk free again.
Little Zakarai's mum Emma Blood was seven months pregnant with her daughter at the time of the tragedy. Her mum - Zakari's grandma - told the Manchester Evening News that having moved away from the Radcliffe area to a new home near her in Cheetham Hill, her daughter was starting to rebuild her life following the long-running ordeal.
"Emma now has a beautiful little daughter called Isla, who is now two years old," grandma Debra said. "She has everything to live for and we are living near each other and the nightmare of what happened to Zakari is behind us."
Debra said one of the major issues for the family was that Emma didn't know that Bennett-Eko had previously been sectioned under the Mental Health Act before she began a relationship with him. Legislation known as Clare's Law [named after a landmark case] gives any member of the public the right to ask the police if their partner may pose a risk to them.
Debra said: "The fact that Emma wasn't fully aware of the extent of her partner's illness is an issue for us. Clare's Law is there for a reason."
At the end of the Rochdale inquest senior coroner for Manchester North, Joanne Kearsley, concluded by delivering damning condemnation of a catalogue failings by mental health services treating the troubled dad in the months leading up to Zakari's death. She found that these failings 'possibly contributed' to the little lad's death.
Even now, the long-drawn-out ramifications of the father's actions have not been concluded. Ms Kearsley will compile what's known as a 'Regulation 28 Prevention of Future Deaths Report' after which all the agencies involved in Bennett-Eko's care must respond and show what improvements they will make.
Legal representatives of the eight organisations - Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust, Manchester City Council, Bury Council, Manchester Clinical Commissioning Group, Manchester Foundation NHS Trust, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust - Rock Health Centre and Greater Manchester Police, were given 28 days [the middle of April] to make legal submissions in advance of the report.
