THE last thing Mitch Davies did for his little brother Kody was to stop him on the driveway and forced him to empty his pockets.
Kody said he was going for a walk. Mitch assumed it was to take drugs.
It was the last time he saw him alive.
An hour later, he was staring down at Kody’s “smirking but peaceful” face looking back at him.
There was no note, no hug goodbye. It was over.
Kody and Mitch Davies were six years apart, but shared a bond only brothers can have.
Kody had been battling an ice addiction for seven years before the “voice in his head” told him to take his own life.
He was just 25.
He had a stable job, came from a loving, generous family and had great mates.
At 17, the world was very much his oyster.
He had grand plans to own his own trawling business, become a father and continue to “sh-t-stir” his older brother.
Ice put an end to that.
Kody Davies with Mitch’s 4-year-old daughter Gracie. Kody cared for her like she was his own child.
“He started at parties at 17, just with ecstasy back then. Then it snowballed. He wouldn’t touch anything other than ice,” Mitch said.
For seven years, Kody battled – his life constantly shrouded by “chaos”.
The Davies family gave him unwavering support and seven times Kody went to rehab programs: some successful for a while, some not.
But he was unable to shake the drug habit.
“He tried. He tried so hard, and I know he wanted to change,” Mitch said.
“My parents bent over backwards to help him. They tried everything.
“It has broken them. Dad, especially, is struggling.”
Ice was a scourge in Mitch’s life, too. He was also hooked as a teen by the “monster” drug.
Mitch said two things got him clean.
“People think I got clean for my daughter Gracie. That’s partly true,” he said in his eulogy for Kody last week.
“But in all truth, I think it was to be a role model and someone my brother could look up to.
“We, as a family, were really looking forward to the future, of both of us being clean together. And not worrying.
“Playing golf with dad. Him having a child of his own. The way he used to play with my daughter is something I’ll really miss. He would stir her up, but so lovingly.”
Mitch truly believes there was nothing he could have done to stop Kody taking his own life.
“When he walked out the door, I honestly thought he was going to use again, so I stopped him,” he said.
“There was no indication at all. No tell-tale sign. He just knew what he was going to do.
“But why not give me a hug? Why not say goodbye? And that’s what kills me.”
Tributes have flowed for the 25-year-old on social media since his death
Donna Somerville-O’Halloran posted: “Had the pleasure of meeting Kody when he was a young lad with the world at his feet. Devastating news.”
Julz Quinn wrote: “Kody was such a funny, kind and gentle young man. He really wanted recovery. RIP.”
Pam Tomkins said: “It was the saddest and most heartbreaking funeral I have been to for a very long time.”
Lisa Mason wrote: “Kody was a beautiful soul. His parents went above and beyond to help him. A young man I loved dearly, my heart is broken.”
Boreen Point resident Trevor Clarey was Kody’s great uncle, he said the funeral service was “brutally frank” and left those in attendance shaken.
He said his heart ached for his extended family.
“For this to happen to such a gentle, soft, intelligent family is gut wrenching,” Mr Clarey said.
“This insidious drug is claiming and destroying lives.
“It is so sad to see.
“Life is too precious. I will be 75 in March, Kody was one-third my age.”