Raymi Willka Saldana Rojas, 14, drowned in the River IJ in July last year, having travelled to the Netherlands with a friend’s family.
“I question how my son drowned there, because he didn’t know how to swim,” said his mother, Jeanette Rojas.
She does not believe he would have risked his life by entering the water under his own steam.
Information has since emerged, she said, of a half-hour delay by emergency services, due to a “miscommunication”, before the search for Raymi started.
“My son’s body was found an hour later,” she alleged.
Raymi’s death last July will be investigated by a British coroner, but his parents say lawyers have quoted them almost £60,000 for representation.
They are now crowd-funding to cover the bill.
Raymi was described as a virtuoso musician, able to play piano, guitar and flute (Image: Jeanette Rojas) Raymi, from Holloway in Islington, was already such a respected musician that his death attracted an obituary by the Guardian newspaper, which described him as a “virtuoso multi-instrumentalist”.
Born in London to two South American musicians – Jeanette and her husband Carlos Saldana – Raymi played piano, flute and a stringed instrument called the charango.
A pupil at William Ellis School in Gospel Oak, he had played alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and was the youngest artist ever to play at Camden’s Jazz Café.
The school is planning to plant a tree in his honour, said Jeanette.
“How is it possible a beautiful life can be just finished, like that?” she asked. “Just honouring him is not enough. No parents deserve to suffer this.”
Jeanette said she learned of her son’s death by phone, from the family he had travelled to Amsterdam with.
“It was surreal,” she said. “We were in complete shock – and I am still. We can’t process this.”
It was too late to book a flight that day, but they flew out first thing the next morning.
“His body was in the mortuary and we had to go and recognise him,” Jeanette said.
Jeanette described her son as “really, really exceptional”.
“Most people know him as a gifted musician,” she said. “Within, I think, seven or eight months, he started to make music, sitting in and thumping the high chair.
“In his short life, he did a lot. He was grade 8 on piano. He was preparing for grade 8 on flute. We realised, I think when he was eight years old, that he had perfect pitch. That is a real gift for a musician.
“He was a natural writer, he loved reading. He was exceptional in maths.
“He had the world at his feet. He could have done whatever he decided. But his life was cut off.
“He has no voice now – but we are here, as his parents, to speak for him. He deserved to live.”
A fundraising page on the website CrowdJustice – titled “Help Us Seek Justice For Raymi” – has raised more than £22,000.
“We are feeling so humble,” said Jeanette. “All the money on that platform will transfer straight to the solicitors. There are no funds for the family.”
The family will be represented at the inquest by Imran Khan Solicitors, if they raise enough money.
“We are determined to find out what happened to Raymi – what could have been done to save him and how we can ensure no other family suffers the same unimaginable heartbreak,” the page says.
“Because Raymi died abroad, navigating the legal system has been incredibly difficult, especially as English is not our first language. We are originally from Bolivia and Peru, but Raymi was born here in the UK.”
The family said it was awaiting an inquest date from the coroner.
