“He was not monitored as he should have been”
23-year-old Zak Bennett-Eko begged to be sectioned mere days before he killed his 11-month-old son, a case review has discovered.
The dad killed his son Zakari Bennett in September 2019. He was found guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility. The judge gave him an indefinite hospital order.
It is believed the dad thought his son was turning into the devil, according to reports. He threw his baby boy into the River Irwell in Radcliffe in Bury, Greater Manchester on September 11, 2019.
However, a review has found that the dad and his family were not given adequate support or care. Three days before he took his son’s life, the dad begged to be sectioned, but he did not receive the necessary care and his mental health continued to deteriorate.
The 23-year-old, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, left the hospital before he was given treatment.
According to reports, the review states that there were 13 key failings in the handling of Zak and his family’s case.
Zak should have been assessed at the Greater Manchester Mental Health accident and emergency department days before his son was killed.
It is believed the team behind Zak’s assessment failed to provide “secondary mental health/learning disability secondary agency support for the dad.”
The review, which was conducted by Bury Integrated Safeguarding Partnership, found that a lack of social support, isolation, cannabis use, poor communication, and poor mental health support resulted in a “pathway to harm” the 11-month-old.
It is understood that Bennett-Eko stopped taking his medication and turned to drug use.
“All the agencies involved are truly sorry for what happened and are determined to do all they can to prevent, so far as humanly possible, something like this happening again. We have already learned from the review of this case and action has been taken as a result,” said assistant director of social care and safeguarding at Bury Council, Tony Decrop.
“Zakari’s father had a concerning history of serious mental illness and violence which was known to services, but he was not followed up and monitored as he should have been,” added Julian Hendy, of the Hundred Families charity.
