Revenge porn boyfriend had 'no active involvement' in lover's suicide

The boyfriend of a student who ‘deliberately’ threw herself from her flat window after she left was mentally disturbed when he released revenge porn of her had ‘no active involvement’ in her death, an inquest has heard.  

Damilya Jussipaliyeva, 24, plunged 80 feet to her death a week after Alessio Bianchi sent the video of her performing a sex act on him in a phone booth to a friend.

Bianchi admitted to releasing the revenge porn of his on-off girlfriend because she had been ‘spreading dangerous rumours’ about him. 

An inquest heard how the business student ‘deliberately jumped’ from her flat window after he released it.

Damilya left a suicide note which read: ‘Alessio I love you, sorry,’ and another to her parents that read: ‘Mommy and Daddy I’m sorry.’

Despite this, it was said he had ‘no active involvement’ in her death.

It was also heard that on the day she died Bianchi called the police to warn she might be suicidal, but a mix-up by officers meant they went to the wrong  address. 

Hours before her death, Damilya and Bianchi had fought outside his flat and he pushed her into a fountain, Inner West London Coroner’s Court heard.

Recording a narrative verdict assistant coroner Bernard Richmond said: ‘This is a tragic case.’

He added: ‘Her mind was plainly disturbed and in that state she formed an intention to kill herself.’

The coroner said Damilya had ‘suffered stress depression and anxiety due to a number if factors, including her relationship with her family, her own drug and alcohol use, difficulties in coping with her degree course and her relationship with her boyfriend.

‘She had twice prior to June 2017 attempted to get out of a window located at a dangerous high level and was prevented from doing so.

‘By the 1st of June 2017 her mental state had significantly deteriorated.

‘At 1.20am she deliberately jumped from the window.Her mind was plainly disturbed and in that state she formed that intention to kill herself evidenced by goodbye notes to her parents and partner.’

Damilya and Bianchi were studying at Regents University in London at the time they met in June 2017.

Bianchi, who was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Damilya, who was from Kazakhstan, had been in an on-off relationship for two-and-a-half years.

Bianchi said: ‘She was a sweet girl.We had similar personalities. We had similar backgrounds.’

The couple’s friends were aware of their tumultuous relationship and Bianchi had reported her to police himself on several occasions, when she had scratched him and she had attempted suicide.

He told the inquest he had yanked her back from his flat window when she had tried to jump out in September 2016.

The court heard they were both using drugs including cocaine, cannabis and ketamine, as well as alcohol.

She was sent a video recording on WhatsApp of her performing oral sex at a phone booth in north London, on 25 May 2017.

Attached was a message saying: ‘I am going to keep destroying you.’

One of her friends received the same clip from three different numbers, with one containing the threat: ‘I will f*** you up next, my love.’

Bianchi claimed she had been spreading rumours about him and he sent the sex video to make her stop.

‘I just felt I had been done wrong and I wanted to get revenge,’ he told the court.

‘She had been spreading dangerous rumours.’

‘It’s the worst thing I have ever done.My regret is sincere. I acknowledge how foolish a reaction it was.

‘In hindsight it was a stupid, childish and immature and I regret it more than anything I ever did.’

Damilya reported the sending of the revenge porn to police and said she did not know she was being recorded.

‘I found it really insulting and humiliating, I think he’s doing this for revenge because of the argument,’ she explained.

‘I am still in shock and feel broken.’

She said she was ‘very scared mentally and physically’ because Bianchi had threatened to send the porn video, as well as footage of her taking cocaine, to her Muslim family.

Damilya told police that there had been a row at his apartment on May 12 and he had ‘grabbed her by the throat, struck her four or five times, spat on her and that she had passed out for a few seconds.’

But the relationship continued even after she went to the police.

On June 1 the pair went out drinking with friends, arriving back at Bianchi’s apartment at around 11.30pm.

They had an argument before Bianchi pushed Ms Jussipaliyeva into the water feature in front of the building.

The violence outside the building lasted for over half an hour before the concierge called police in the early hours of 2 June.

The next day he received distraught text messages from Damilya.

He called police and who went to his flat and then to her apartment in South Wharf Road, Paddington where Damilya was found lying dead on the ground outside.

In April 2018 Bianchi was spared jail after admitting disclosing private sexual photographs and films with intent to cause distress and one count of assault by beating.

Bianchi was handed a 12-week suspended sentence, ordered to carry out a rehabilitation activity requirement and made to pay £250 costs.

His defence barrister Steven Powles had said before he was sentenced: ‘It was a difficult relationship, both were immature and at times, jealous of each other.’

The sight of his lover crumpled on the pavement had a lasting impact on Bianchi, who has received treatment at the Nightingale Hospital for PTSD and complex bereavement disorder.

‘He has lost someone who he loved and someone he intended to marry,’ Mr Powles told the court. 

The officer in case, Det Sgt Emma Kirby, now attached to the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command, confirmed there was evidence that Bianchi was trying to support Damilya while she was upset and had expressed suicidal tendencies.

Electronic devices showed she had been searching for methods of suicides, terraces and heights, the inquest heard.

‘It was clear her preferred method was defenestration,’ said the coroner.

‘There had been a rapid deterioration in her mental health in the last few days.She was in a very disturbed state immediately prior to her death.’

He added that although police responded swiftly to Bianchi’s 999 call ‘an opportunity to attend her address while she was alive at that address was lost’.

Ms Jussipalenya’s family, from Kazakhstan, earlier said in a statement: ‘We cannot describe the pain we feel of losing our beloved Damilya.

‘She was such an adorable, wonderful, bokep jilbab loving, caring and intelligent girl.

‘She loves everyone with all of her heart and tried to see the good in everyone she encountered.

‘We are heartbroken to hear the details of the abuse and torment in which our daughter had to endure because of Mr Bianchi.

‘She had a bright future ahead of her and had so many dreams and aspirations to accomplish great things.

‘While we mourn the loss of a very good girl, we also celebrate her remarkable life and hope that the memory will live on in all that know her.’     

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