Academically Sound final year neuroscience student, Lara Nosiru, died under drug influence —Coroner

The friend of a top university student who jumped to her death from the Clifton Suspension Bridge discussed ways to kill themselves, an inquest heard on Friday as Owojela’s Blog reports.

“Extremely bright” Lara Nosiru at age 23, had taken a large number of sleeping tablets and some LSD when she jumped off Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, the coroner has concluded.

She was a final year student of neuroscience at the Bristol University when the incident happened, reports say.

She went there with fellow Bristol University student, Kasumi Kishi, who told police she had hoped to convince her not to kill herself.  Two days later, Ms Kishi told friends over a pizza how she and Ms Nosiru had discussed suicide methods and killing themselves together.

Prosecutors examined the case to see if charges of assisting in suicide or manslaughter for gross negligence could be brought against Ms Kishi, but decided there was no case to answer.

The Clifton Suspension Bridge from which Miss Nosiru plunged to her death. Mail photos

Fellow flatmate, Alex Gough, claimed Ms Kishi told the group that if someone wanted to die, it was cruel to make them stay alive.

Flatmate, Solene Rebibo, said at the meal Ms Kishi ‘seemed comfortable’ talking about suicide to Ms Nosiru’s friends.

CCTV footage showed the two women walking across the famous bridge shortly before 4pm on January 30, with Ms Nosiru occasionally stopping and looking over the edge.

When they reached the North Somerset side, Ms Nosiru twice tried to climb on to the wall above the gorge edge, but Ms Kishi pulled her back down.

The two women then appeared to have a minor disagreement before Ms Kishi walked away and left her without looking back.

The security cameras showed Ms Nosiru having a final cigarette before climbing on to the wall and falling to her death.

A coroner heard that Ms Kishi, who no longer lives in the UK, was interviewed by police about ‘possible criminal offences being committed’.

Ms Kishi told police that Ms Nosiru had told her to leave and that she then made her promise not to jump.

She said she tried to lighten her mood by making a joke about a man who had tried to jump to his death but had fallen into pig faeces and survived.

Detective Sergeant, Nick Lawson, told the coroner that Ms Nosiru allegedly told Ms Kishi “You’ll have to let me go.”

A coroner ruled that Ms Kishi had no direct involvement in her friend’s death and said the final year neuroscience student took her life while under the influence of drugs.

Avon and Somerset Coroner, Dr. Peter Harrowing, heard how Ms Nosiru was ‘acting strange’ on the day she died after taking LSD she had bought at a discount on her birthday.

She thought her hands were melting and was restless, saying every time she sat down she just wanted to get up again, her flatmates said in statements.

She was hallucinating and seen trying to ‘stamp’ on people who she thought were on her bedroom floor.

Ms Kishi went to see her and they spent about 45 minutes together in her bedroom before going to the bridge in a taxi at around 3.30pm.

The inquest heard that Ms Nosiru had suffered from depression for four years and took an overdose the night before her death.

Psychotherapist, Dr. Niklas Serning, said he had seen Ms Nosiru every week for a year and she was ‘extremely bright’ and would discuss the meaning of life at their hourly sessions.

He told the coroner: “She reported to me she had tried to kill herself. New Year and Christmas was a very sensitive time for her.”

He said Ms Nosiru, of South Ockenden, Essex, wanted to give life ‘another try’ and asked him to ‘make my life meaningful again.’

He said he last saw Ms Nosiru on the morning of her death when she said she was very tired but didn’t appear to be under the influence of drugs. She booked a session for the following week and joked with him about his age.

Asked if there was anything that would have made him think she was going to take her own life, he said: “Absolutely not.”

Dr. Harrowing said Ms. Kishi was not directly involved in Ms Nosiru’s death and she (Ms Nosiru) had taken a ‘deliberate action’ to jump off the bridge. But he said he couldn’t be sure beyond reasonable doubt that she had the mental intention to take her life that day.

He concluded: “She took her own life whilst under the influence of drugs.”