Two events marking the deaths and subsequent failed police investigations involving two Black teenagers – Christopher Kapessa and Shukri Abdi -will take place in Wales tomorrow, Saturday 27th June.
In Mountain Ash, Parc Dyffryn at 2.00pm, a memorial will take place to mark one year since the death of Christopher Kapessa, the young black teenager who drowned in the nearby River Cynon last July, after being pushed in.
Christopher – who could not swim – was surrounded by 14 white people of a similar age at the time of his death and had been the victim of racist bullying prior to the incident.
Despite the suspicious circumstances, South Wales Police declared the incident a ‘tragic accident’ within hours of his death and closed the case having only spoken to 4 of the 14 witnesses present.
Following outrage from the family and their supporters, however, the case was reopened and subsequently found that Christopher had been deliberately pushed in the back by one or more of the young people who were there.
But in February, the Crown Prosecution Service wrote to Christopher’s mother Alina Joseph to say they would not pursue any charges in relation to her son’s death because the suspect seemed of good character and had a positive school record.
Following the decision to effectively close the case, both the police and CPS were condemned for institutional racism by the family and their supporters and accused of disregarding key bits of crime scene evidence.
The approach of the police and the CPS would have been different, Ms Joseph said, “If it was a white child who drowned while surrounded by 14 black youth…They have failed me and they continue to fail black families.”
Speaking in the Welsh Assembly in February Leanne Wood, AM for The Rhondda, said that it was “hard not to agree” with Ms Josephs’ assessment.
The event page on Facebook says the aim is “to remember Christopher Kapessa who so sadly and suddenly died on 1st July 2019.”
In Cardiff tomorrow outside The Senedd at 1.00pm, a protest for Shukri Abdi will take place as part of a UK wide day of action in memory of the 12 year old refugee who was found dead in the River Irwell in Bury, Greater Manchester, in June 2019.
A group of children were with her at the river in the period before she died and her mother says she was the victim of racist bullying in the weeks leading up to her death.
Within hours of her death, police said it was likely that she wanted to cool down in the river and decided not to take matters further. However an inquest was later set up in February of this year, but was then adjourned with no confirmed resumption date. Early evidence given to the inquest by those who were present suggests Shukri – who could not swim – was threatened by at least one person to enter the water.
The mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has called for “the widest possible investigation” into her death.
Shukri came to the UK with her mother and four siblings after they fled conflict in Somalia. Shukri was born and brought up in a refugee camp in Kenya.
Both cases highlight systemic racism within the police, an issue brought to the fore by the recent wave of Black Lives Matter protests which have swept the country.
The movement that began in solidarity with George Floyd – the Black man murdered by a racist cop in Minneapolis – has now turned its focus squarely onto cases of racial injustice in the UK.
