When Mark Wells shouted 'Help me, help me, please!' in the middle of the night, neighbours were too frightened to intervene. One neighbour heard his pleading tones but his friend dismissed it as someone pissed up. In the morning, Wells was dead; he suffocated after falling headfirst in to an uncovered drain hole just metres from his home in Newport on the Isle of Wight.
The coroner did not blame the residents for ignoring the poor mans pleas for help saying it was 'a sad reflection on society that people were too scared to venture out of thier homes when they heard screams'.
The story hurt me deeply both as what we have become as a nation. Too scared to be the good samaritan, we have all turned our backs one time or another be it through loyalty valued over justice or through sheer fear at getting hurt ourselves. Also that the hole was left uncovered, literally a deathtrap.
I would like to donate the first gold leaved manhole cover to mark the place where Mark Wells died. I am sure there have already been the traditional laying of flowers round the hole but the Gold cover could be a more permanent reminder. Of course, over time, the gold leaf may wear away, all things turn to dust. Perhaps a fund could be set up in Marks' memory to have the manhole cover reguilded, annually for the anniversary of his death to remind us not just of the importance of manhole covers but to remind us to be good samaritans when we are called
skree
The coroner did not blame the residents for ignoring the poor mans pleas for help saying it was 'a sad reflection on society that people were too scared to venture out of thier homes when they heard screams'.
The story hurt me deeply both as what we have become as a nation. Too scared to be the good samaritan, we have all turned our backs one time or another be it through loyalty valued over justice or through sheer fear at getting hurt ourselves. Also that the hole was left uncovered, literally a deathtrap.
I would like to donate the first gold leaved manhole cover to mark the place where Mark Wells died. I am sure there have already been the traditional laying of flowers round the hole but the Gold cover could be a more permanent reminder. Of course, over time, the gold leaf may wear away, all things turn to dust. Perhaps a fund could be set up in Marks' memory to have the manhole cover reguilded, annually for the anniversary of his death to remind us not just of the importance of manhole covers but to remind us to be good samaritans when we are called
skree
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