The family of Christopher Kapessa, the 13 year old who died after being pushed into a river in south Wales, have taken their fight for justice to the High Court in London today.
The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice will look at the decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to charge anyone over Christopher’s death, despite identifying a suspect and having evidence of manslaughter.
Alina Joseph, Christopher’s mother, said: “My family and I have spent over 30 months seeking justice for what happened to Christopher. So many of our questions are still unanswered. My son’s life matters. It cannot be taken without consequence. I think of Christopher every single day. I know that this case will not bring him back but I have to seek justice for my family, for my son.”
Christopher Kapessa could not swim when he drowned in the River Cynon near Mountain Ash in July 2019. He was the only Black person in a group of around 14-16 people of a similar age.
Following his death, South Wales Police declared the incident a ‘tragic accident’ within 48 hours, but it later emerged that they had not properly secured the scene. Police also only interviewed 4 people out of a potential 14- 16 witnesses, and were accused of ignoring crucial pieces of evidence, including text messages.
Following public outrage, the CPS conducted its own investigation and found that Christopher was deliberately pushed into the river and identified a suspect. Despite this, they chose not to pursue any charges and dropped the case, citing the suspect’s good school record and declaring the case to be not in the public interest.
Following the CPS decision, Christopher’s mother, Alina Joseph, said that the CPS would have acted differently “if it was a white child who drowned while surrounded by 14 black youth.”
Christopher moved to the Cynon Valley with his six siblings and mother, Alina Joseph, in 2012. While Chistopher was popular and had many friends, his single mother Alina said she worried for her children due to the numerous incidents of racism the family had experienced since moving to the area from London.
These included “hate letters” sent to the house, some of the children being “peed on” and Christopher being left in a “pool of blood” after being attacked in a shop.
There is also evidence that Christopher’s family has been subjected to racism and hate crimes after his death. Soon after Christopher died, a local resident was convicted of a racially aggravated offence against the family.
Christopher’s mother, Alina Joseph, used her Victims’ Right to Review to appeal the CPS decision not to prosecute anyone over the death, but the body maintained its position. In June 2021, however, the High Court granted permission to challenge the CPS decision on a number of grounds including that it may have “failed to properly value human life and the harm caused by the offence”.
The family says that the CPS decision not to charge the suspect by relying on the public interest ‘test’ is not only controversial, given the age of the deceased, but is also unlawful given the specific circumstances that led to the killing on 1st July 2019 in Mountain Ash in South Wales.
A statement from the campaign reads:
“On that fateful day, Christopher was deliberately pushed by another young person into the River Cynon and died hours later. There is evidence that this young suspect and others on the scene knew that Christopher could not swim.”
Christopher’s case has attracted international attention and gained prominence during the global Black Lives Matter protests and the campaign petition has so far attracted over 110,000 signatures. The campaign is also backed by the Wales TUC, whose secretary Shavanah Taj has attended the High Court hearing with the family today.
Over two dozen UK Parliament MPs have signed an Early Day Motion, however only 4 Welsh MPs have signed. The Cynon Valley MP Beth Winter, who’s constituency Christopher died in, tabled the motion but is the only Labour MP in Wales to have signed it.
The family say there are striking similarities between their case and that of the family of Stephen Lawrence, and are demanding an independent inquiry into the conduct of South Wales Police.
Alina Joseph is represented by the civil rights lawyer Michael Mansfield QC, who also worked on the Stephen Lawrence case as well as Hillsborough and a number of other high profile justice cases.
To donate to the campaign see: https://linktr.ee/JusticeForChristopherKapessa
