An inquest in the UK has heard that an 18-year-old Audi apprentice mechanic killed himself after colleagues bullied him, locked him in cage and burned his clothes.
George Cheese committed suicide on April 9 2016, approximately six months after he started working at Audi and at one stage, said other employees forcibly locked him in a cage and doused him in a flammable liquid before setting him ablaze.
During an inquest held in Reading, the mother, Purdy Cheese, said that George’s mental health declined in the months leading up to his suicide and that he received verbal abuse from his colleagues, including his boss saying “Oh, so you are alive after all,” when he arrived at work one morning, The Telegraph reports.
While working at the Audi mechanic, Cheese was on medication and had previously overdosed. His mother said that he also frequently received comments like “take your happy pills George, you’re going to need them.”
Speaking at the inquest, a fellow Audi employee admitted that Cheese was set on fire.
“I was in the workshop when a prank was played on George and he was set on fire. It did not go too far. We knew where to draw the line. It was not bullying,” he said.
Despite the difficulties he faced at work, coroner Peter Bedford said that the Audi garage was not to blame for Cheese’s death.