The father of a teenage boy who died by suicide has used rap music to share his anger and grief over his son’s death.

David Sammut, also known as Il-Buggly, shared the song entitled Il-Protesta (The Protest) accompanied by a music video on Facebook, two years after his 17-year-old son Diego took his own life.

In the song, Sammut criticises various support agencies – represented in the video as masked figures sitting at a table – for refusing to accept responsibility for his son’s death.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Sammut said Diego went from being quiet to despondent when he turned 16.

He then developed severe depression, before self-harming and eventually attempting to end his own life on two occasions.

In that time, he had various stays at Mater Dei and Mount Carmel Hospitals. Sammut says that he and his ex-wife, who separated when Diego was a baby, did not want the young man to live with them, or Sammut’s elderly parents, because they felt they could not prevent him from hurting himself.

“We pleaded with the authorities to find him a place to stay where he could be safe, but we felt they downplayed the danger Diego presented to himself. They said he was a low suicide risk and that he was only doing it for attention,” Sammut said.

Eventually, Child Protection Services found a place for Diego at Villa Chelsea, where the Richmond Foundation provides a residential and day community-based programme, as well as respite care for people with mental health problems. 

“I felt that, at last, there was hope. But when I helped him to take his things to Villa Chelsea, I noticed things in his room that he could use to hurt himself, like window panes that could easily be smashed and electrical outlets,” Sammut says, adding that Diego’s belt was also not taken away from him.

Diego was found 10 hours after death

Sammut said that, days later, he received a phone call from Villa Chelsea in the morning asking where Diego was, as he had gone out the previous evening but had not been seen returning.

When staff members knocked on his bedroom door, there was no answer.

“I was taken aback. Why didn’t they know where he was?” Sammut said.

Diego’s lifeless body was eventually found in his room. According to the autopsy report, he was dead 10 hours before being found.

A magisterial inquiry into Diego’s death absolved all parties involved of responsibility. Despite all the professionals assigned to his case doing the best they could, Magistrate Charmaine Galea concluded their efforts were in vain. She found no evidence of negligence.

However, Sammut insists that his son’s death could have been prevented.

I noticed things in his room that he could use to hurt himself

“I want to make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against Richmond Foundation or the staff at Villa Chelsea. But I feel that the place is not at all suited to hosting severely suicidal people. I lay the blame for Diego’s death on the people who put him there,” Sammut said.

Turning to the song and video, Sammut says he chose to vent his anger and process his grief through rap because the genre played a central role in his relationship with Diego.

“I left the hip hop scene when Diego was born because I wanted to be an exemplary father for him, and all the drugs, alcohol and so on that were part of that scene would have made it difficult. I changed my life for him, then I came back to rap because of him.”

Diego himself eventually got into rap music. “He loved it. He had a YouTube channel where he posted his songs, and he cleaned up any talent show he entered.”

Sammut added that he felt the song would be more effective than other means of expression available to him.

“If I’d have done an actual protest, it wouldn’t have got as much attention as the song has got,” he said. The video has more than 15,000 views on Facebook.

Sammut said each location in the video had a particular meaning.

“It’s mostly filmed at Tigné Point because that’s the last place I saw Diego alive. We drove there because he wanted to see the view of Valletta.”

“He was so sensitive. He’d know when something was wrong and would call me out if he thought I’d handled an argument with my partner badly. I learned a lot from him. He was my best friend, my pillar.”

Sammut says that aside from searching for answers on Diego’s death, he was also none the wiser about Malta’s mental healthcare system.

“To this day, I don’t know who to turn to for urgent help if I or someone I know is having a mental health crisis.”

If you are feeling depressed and need support or need guidance on how to help someone who is suicidal, call 1579. You can also call Richmond Malta’s helpline on 1770. One can also type OLLI.Chat on their desktop, mobile or tablet browser to chat with a professional. If you have been affected by suicide, you can call Victim Support Malta on 2122 8333 or info@victimsupport.org.mt.