Heartbroken parents watched as daughter, 20, left card for them and plunged to her death: 'I watched as she fell, I couldn’t do anything'
Promising medical student 'fell to her death after battle with anorexia and depression'
Harminder and Sarah Bharaj witnessed something no parent should. The devastated parents of a 20-year-old suffering from anorexia witnessed her jump to her death before they could stop her, an inquest was told. Hannah Bharaj was a "high-achieving perfectionist" whose life had started to "unravel" post the death of two close family members.
Hannah took her own life July 12 last year after she jumped from an internal balcony at John Lewis' Handforth Dean branch near Cheadle, Greater Manchester. She was rushed to the hospital but passed away the next day. At the time of her death, she had been seeking help and treatment for her eating disorder and mental health issues.
Her parents, Harminder and Sarah told an inquest Hannah had got up from the table on the pretext of buying another drink before "walking briskly" to the balcony around 20 feet away. As reported by the Daily Mail, Sarah shared, "We went to the Priory to pick Hannah up at about 6.15 p.m. We would tend to go to the upstairs cafe in John Lewis because it stayed open later. Hannah had a book with her, I had a crossword. We all had a drink. Then Hannah said she wanted another drink, but she said she fancied a mocha, which was very unusual because of the calories."
Sarah recalled how something fell out of Hannah's book; a card labeled to mum and dad. "She went off to get a drink and when I looked up she didn't go left to the drinks bit, she went right. I think I knew she was walking towards the balcony. I said: 'Harry look at the balcony.' I knew then. He leaped up and ran after her. She walked briskly, it was very measured. She stood on a chair, then a table then I just saw her legs go down the glass."
Hannah had attended the Manchester High School for Girls and had very high standards for herself. When she would fail to meet these, she would get very stressed. Her father Harminder also shared that she did not get accepted into the medical school of her choice and this had a big impact on her. Eventually, Hannah had also started a "fanatical" regime and had become obsessed with her weight. The death of her grandfather, coupled with her being mentally unwell seemed to have led Hannah to take her life.