'Exceptional and intelligent' man died after drug overdose

“FIERCELY intelligent” young man overdosed on prescription medication after what he described as a crystal meth “bender”.

- CONOR GOGARTY

Olaoluwa Alatise, 27, was found dead at his Cardiff home more than two and a half hours after he had called 999 reporting a suicide attempt, his inquest heard.

Pontypridd Coroners’ Court heard Mr Alatise - known to his friends as Laolu - worked as a researcher for Media Cymru, a consortium aimed at growing the Welsh media sector.

Colleagues described him as “a true one-off” and “an exceptional and beautiful human being”.

Mr Alatise grew up in Nigeria before studying journalism, media and English literature at Cardiff University, where he graduated in 2018 at the top of his class with a first-class bachelor's degree.

Coroner Andrew Morse said Mr Alatise had in the past experienced issues with suicidal thoughts and self-harm.

On September 6, 2023, the day before his death, Mr Alatise was detained by police under the Mental Health Act after he had entered a Betfred bookmaker’s on Cowbridge Road East, Canton, in a state of panic and asked staff to call police.

He was assessed at the Hafan Y Coed mental health unit and told a doctor he had been on “a bit of a bender” involving a Class A drug, crystal methamphetamine, over the three previous days.

Mr Alatise said he had been “obsessive” in that period, failing to sleep and going down “rabbit holes” by viewing “extreme” pornographic material which made him feel “paranoid”.