The sister of a woman who died along with her two young children in the Grenfell Tower fire has told an inquiry into the blaze she cannot “lay them to rest” until she has learned the truth about their deaths.
Tributes were paid to victims of the fire on the second day of the public inquiry, with Rasha Ibrahim telling the panel she still hears her sister Rania's voice "all the time".
Rania Ibrahim, 31, lived on the 23rd floor of the tower block with her daughters Fethia Hassan and Hania Hassan, aged five and three. She live streamed her final moments on 14 June from the top of the burning building.
Ms Ibrahim described her sibling as “a beautiful soul” who loved to play, even as an adult.
Recalling a play fight with her sister in 2016 in which they threw eggs at each other, Ms Ibrahim said: “She was happiness on earth. No one would sit with Rania and not smile.
“Since the time of the incident I hear Rania’s voice all the time,” she continued. ”I used to consult her on everything. Whenever I used to get angry she would calm me down.
“I still write to her and talk to her even though she’s departed. I miss hearing her voice.”
Rania’s daughter, Fethia, who was called “Foufou” by her family, “had a strong personality and seemed more like a mum even though he was very young”, Ms Ibrahim told the hearing.
She described months of anguish following the fire and said her search for the truth was not over.
“After that night came a cruel tale of false hope and rumour,” she said.
“To this day, the questions remain in my mind and plague me about what exactly happened – it is very important for me to take part in this process of questioning, to find out the truth.”
For this reason, she said she thought it was important to take part in the inquiry. “I cannot lay them to rest yet,” she said.
The inquiry also heard on Tuesday from Nicholas Burton, whose wife Maria del Pilar Burton is considered the 72nd victim of the fire.
Ms Burton, who was known as “Pily”, suffered from dementia and was too frail to flee their home when the blaze engulfed the building.
The couple were eventually rescued, but Ms Burton’s condition deteriorated badly following the blaze, her husband of 34 years said.
“Her body was cut and bruised all over,” he told the hearing. “The trauma had a terrible effect on her dementia and she was very distressed.”
“How do you explain what had happened to a person in her condition? That our house had gone. Our dog had gone. Our good friends and neighbours may have passed and many friends were missing. That her parents’ ashes, which we had kept in the flat, had gone,” he said.
Mr Burton needed surgery after the fire due to an enlarged heart. His wife’s condition had worsened by the time he recovered and she suffered a stroke in January. She never recovered, and died on 29 January, he told the hearing.
“She was a unique, beautiful, exceptional person until this tragedy had taken it away. It took away her dignity and everything we had in this world,” he said.
“And let me tell you, no matter what indignities my wife had to suffer, my Pily was perfect.”
The mother of another victim on Tuesday described her guilt over encouraging her to move into the council block.
Debbie Lamprell, 45, worked as a member of front of house staff at Opera Holland Park (OHP).
In a statement read out by OHP colleague Michael Volpe, her mother Miriam said her daughter was popular and always had a smile on her face.
Miriam’s neighbours could tell when the 45-year-old had come to visit since they could hear laughter coming from the flat, she said.
When her daughter moved out as a young professional she was concerned about the bedsits she was living in.
“The conditions weren’t good and I used to badger her to put her name down with the council to get her somewhere proper to live, somewhere safe and decent,” her mother said.
“Of course it feels terrible to have done that now because she was given the flat in Grenfell.”
The night she died she sent a text to say she was safe at home, her mother said, which read: “I’ve got in mum, all’s well, goodnight, god bless.”
She continued: “I went to bed and I got up in the morning and I didn’t have a daughter.”
Tuesday featured more tributes to Mary Mendy and Khadija Saye, who were also commemorated on the first day of the inquiry.
Poems dedicated to the mother and daughter in which the family demanded justice were read aloud during the presentation.
Relative Ambrose Mendy told the hearing Grenfell Tower stood as “a timely reminder of man’s inhumanity to man”.
The family then presented the chair of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, with a painting of the tower to remind him to “work until the truth is laid bare”.
The memorial hearings are taking place at a South Kensington hotel, since it is closer to the Grenfell community, but the rest of phase one of the inquiry will take place at Holborn Bars in central London, where several procedural hearings have already taken place.
