· Grace Idowu tells of her grief for teenager David
· She hopes photo will bring home reality of violence
David Idowu lies in a hospital bed. His eyes are closed, his face swollen, a tube protrudes from his mouth, feeding drips keep him hydrated and a heart monitor measures the fading signs of life.
Five days after this photograph was taken by his family in the Royal London hospital, east London, David, 14, died from a knife wound to the heart, inflicted as he went to play football in the park.
His mother, Grace Idowu, 48, released the last picture of David to the Guardian for publication today in an attempt to illustrate the stark reality of teenage knife crime.
"That is my beautiful boy," she said. "I want this picture published so people can see what happened to him. I want young people to see what happens when you put a knife in someone.
"They should just stop all this. He was not a criminal, he was an innocent boy. All this is for nothing."
Idowu remembers watching a news report in the summer on the killing of 15-year-old Arsema Dawit on an estate in Waterloo, central London.
"I just saw it and thought it was very sad that this young girl should die like this," she said. "I never imagined as I watched that my son would be next."
But two weeks later Idowu was at work in Tesco when two police officers entered the store and walked towards her till. It was 5.45pm, about 45 minutes after David had shut the front door of his house, crossed the road and walked into Tabard Gardens, the park opposite, to play football.
"When I saw the police officers coming into the shop I thought it must be for shoplifting. But they were walking to me and they asked me to come into the office," she said.
The officers told her that David had been attacked around the corner from his home. "It was like the life was suddenly sucked out of me. I collapsed and I came round to hear them shouting my name," she said.
"They drove me to the Royal London hospital where they were operating on David. They had resuscitated him twice before they started the surgery. The knife had been thrust deep into his chest and pierced his heart.
"David lost 90% of his blood, they fought so hard to save him."
After a five-hour operation Idowu, her husband Tim and their other children were allowed to see David in the intensive care unit where he lay wired to machines and unconscious.
For 20 days Idowu sat at her son's bedside holding his hand and stroking his forehead.
"When I called his name he would turn his head to me," she said. "His eyes were wide open but he could not see me, he just turned his head towards the sound. The doctors told me he may not survive but I was determined he would, then they told me he would be brain damaged but I wanted him back no matter what state he was in."
Fifteen days into her vigil Idowu had this picture taken, the last of her young son. Five days later he died without ever coming round.
Thursday 18 September 2008
Teenage killings: 'Arms race' warning as another youth is killed
· Stabbed teenager is 26th victim in London this year
· Community leader fears violence out of control
Senior police advisers and community leaders warned yesterday that youth violence was spiralling out of control on inner-city streets after another teenager was killed in London. Oliver King-Onzila became the 26th teenager to be murdered in the capital this year when he was knifed outside a bar on Saturday.
The killing means that teenage homicides in the first nine months of this year already equal the number for all of 2007 in the Metropolitan police area. Since 2000, the number of teenagers killed on the capital's streets has risen year on year.
Sir Ian Blair, the Met police commissioner, said during a spate of killings last year that the violence among young people was "completely unacceptable" and he was "not prepared to tolerate this continued sequence of senseless killings". But despite a high-profile police presence on the streets and more stops and searches, the number of stabbings has risen.
King-Onzila, 19, who captained Barnet's youth football team, died in a fracas outside the E Bar in Croydon, south London. Barnet's manager, Paul Fairclough, described him as "a gentle giant".
Cindy Butts, a deputy chair of the Metropolitan police authority and specialist in gun and knife crime, said: "I think we must brace ourselves. It is like an arms race ... The more young people are aware that other young people are carrying knives, the more likely they will be to carry one."
Raymond Stevenson, a community leader in Brixton, said: "Next year the figures will go up again because we are at the beginning of the spiral, not at the end."
Stevenson alleged that government "neglect" of urban areas gave young people "the worst teachers in the most rundown schools, no after-school provision and no hope". He said the " underinvestment in urban communities is a national disaster". His own violence awareness group, Urban Concepts, has had its Home Office funding withdrawn.
· Community leader fears violence out of control
Senior police advisers and community leaders warned yesterday that youth violence was spiralling out of control on inner-city streets after another teenager was killed in London. Oliver King-Onzila became the 26th teenager to be murdered in the capital this year when he was knifed outside a bar on Saturday.
The killing means that teenage homicides in the first nine months of this year already equal the number for all of 2007 in the Metropolitan police area. Since 2000, the number of teenagers killed on the capital's streets has risen year on year.
Sir Ian Blair, the Met police commissioner, said during a spate of killings last year that the violence among young people was "completely unacceptable" and he was "not prepared to tolerate this continued sequence of senseless killings". But despite a high-profile police presence on the streets and more stops and searches, the number of stabbings has risen.
King-Onzila, 19, who captained Barnet's youth football team, died in a fracas outside the E Bar in Croydon, south London. Barnet's manager, Paul Fairclough, described him as "a gentle giant".
Cindy Butts, a deputy chair of the Metropolitan police authority and specialist in gun and knife crime, said: "I think we must brace ourselves. It is like an arms race ... The more young people are aware that other young people are carrying knives, the more likely they will be to carry one."
Raymond Stevenson, a community leader in Brixton, said: "Next year the figures will go up again because we are at the beginning of the spiral, not at the end."
Stevenson alleged that government "neglect" of urban areas gave young people "the worst teachers in the most rundown schools, no after-school provision and no hope". He said the " underinvestment in urban communities is a national disaster". His own violence awareness group, Urban Concepts, has had its Home Office funding withdrawn.
Three teenagers remanded over murder of Shaquille Smith
Three teenagers appeared in court today charged with the murder of 14-year-old Shaquille Smith from east London.
Smith was stabbed to death outside his home in Hackney on August 30 during a fight.
George Amponsah, 18, and two boys aged 16 and 17 who cannot be named, all from east London, faced Thames magistrates court and were remanded in custody. They will appear at the Old Bailey on October 3.
Smith was stabbed to death outside his home in Hackney on August 30 during a fight.
George Amponsah, 18, and two boys aged 16 and 17 who cannot be named, all from east London, faced Thames magistrates court and were remanded in custody. They will appear at the Old Bailey on October 3.
Scenes from the battle to staunch flow of stab deaths
Yesterday another teenager was stabbed to death. As knife crime soars, hospitals across the UK are dealing with record numbers of victims. Through last week The Observer was given unprecedented access to the A&E unit at King's College Hospital, London, which admits more stab victims than any in England. This is the story of how the hospital staff cope:
London has gained the unenviable reputation as the place where young people are most likely to be stabbed. Already this year 25 teenagers have met violent deaths, most of them as a result of knives. The accident and emergency department at King's College Hospital in south-east London treats more victims of stabbings than any other in England - almost one every day.
At King's an astonishing 70 per cent of knife victims are aged between 13 and 19. While the number of such patients is going up, their age is going down. The youngest knife crime victim treated last year was a 10-year-old schoolboy. Last month the stabbing casualty list included a 14-year-old girl.
Until recently A&E staff saw few females with blade wounds. But last year more than 10 per cent of patients at King's with such wounds were teenage girls or young women.
Throughout last week King's gave The Observer unprecedented access to its A&E unit to witness how medical staff cope with the growing toll of knife crime. The stark reality of their work on the front line - dealing with the growing number of disputes settled with blades - raises many unsettling questions.
A&E staff usually deal with victims of falls, heart attacks and car crashes. But King's is near the knife crime hot spots of Peckham, Brixton and Camberwell, so its personnel have also become experts in treating the many people who have been stabbed - 295 last year alone. The area's many gangs pursue often bloody disputes, and drug dealers settle scores, almost on the hospital's doorstep.
'Five years ago we only had the odd female victim, usually as a result of domestic violence,' adds Lasoye. 'But last year 38 of the 295 stabbings we saw were female and, of them, only 15 were in that category. The other 23 happened in the same sort of circumstances as male victims of knife violence - in parks, nightclubs and in the street.
'If young females, who are often teenage mothers, are involved in this sort of thing, what chance does their child have of living a normal life?'
A few stab victims only need to be seen in the A&E department's minor injuries unit. But most are taken into the five-bed resuscitation unit, which is reserved for casualties suffering major trauma. Whenever a stab victim arrives with the knife still lodged in them, it is left there until a full assessment is made. 'The three key things we need to find out urgently are the size of the blade, the force used to put it in and what direction it went in,' explains Aidan Slowie, the most senior nurse in the A&E.
London has gained the unenviable reputation as the place where young people are most likely to be stabbed. Already this year 25 teenagers have met violent deaths, most of them as a result of knives. The accident and emergency department at King's College Hospital in south-east London treats more victims of stabbings than any other in England - almost one every day.
At King's an astonishing 70 per cent of knife victims are aged between 13 and 19. While the number of such patients is going up, their age is going down. The youngest knife crime victim treated last year was a 10-year-old schoolboy. Last month the stabbing casualty list included a 14-year-old girl.
Until recently A&E staff saw few females with blade wounds. But last year more than 10 per cent of patients at King's with such wounds were teenage girls or young women.
Throughout last week King's gave The Observer unprecedented access to its A&E unit to witness how medical staff cope with the growing toll of knife crime. The stark reality of their work on the front line - dealing with the growing number of disputes settled with blades - raises many unsettling questions.
A&E staff usually deal with victims of falls, heart attacks and car crashes. But King's is near the knife crime hot spots of Peckham, Brixton and Camberwell, so its personnel have also become experts in treating the many people who have been stabbed - 295 last year alone. The area's many gangs pursue often bloody disputes, and drug dealers settle scores, almost on the hospital's doorstep.
'Five years ago we only had the odd female victim, usually as a result of domestic violence,' adds Lasoye. 'But last year 38 of the 295 stabbings we saw were female and, of them, only 15 were in that category. The other 23 happened in the same sort of circumstances as male victims of knife violence - in parks, nightclubs and in the street.
'If young females, who are often teenage mothers, are involved in this sort of thing, what chance does their child have of living a normal life?'
A few stab victims only need to be seen in the A&E department's minor injuries unit. But most are taken into the five-bed resuscitation unit, which is reserved for casualties suffering major trauma. Whenever a stab victim arrives with the knife still lodged in them, it is left there until a full assessment is made. 'The three key things we need to find out urgently are the size of the blade, the force used to put it in and what direction it went in,' explains Aidan Slowie, the most senior nurse in the A&E.
Two teenagers charged with Shaquille Smith murder
Shaquille Smith died in hospital hours after he was stabbed close to his home.
Two teenagers have been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old schoolboy who was stabbed while sitting on a bench outside his east London home, police said today.
Godiowe Dufeal, 19, of Hackney, east London, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named, will appear before Thames magistrates court today over the killing of Shaquille Smith at the weekend.
Police arrested two other men today, aged 18 and 21, in connection with the case.
Shaquille was sitting on a bench in St Thomas's Place, Hackney, just before midnight on Saturday when he was surrounded by a group of around 15 youths, witnesses said.
He was stabbed in the stomach and died at 8am the next day in hospital. His sister Tahira, 16, was also stabbed and was treated in hospital for her injuries.
Shaquille had been due to go back to school this week to start his GCSE studies. He was the 25th teenager to die in attacks in London this year.
Two teenagers have been charged with the murder of a 14-year-old schoolboy who was stabbed while sitting on a bench outside his east London home, police said today.
Godiowe Dufeal, 19, of Hackney, east London, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named, will appear before Thames magistrates court today over the killing of Shaquille Smith at the weekend.
Police arrested two other men today, aged 18 and 21, in connection with the case.
Shaquille was sitting on a bench in St Thomas's Place, Hackney, just before midnight on Saturday when he was surrounded by a group of around 15 youths, witnesses said.
He was stabbed in the stomach and died at 8am the next day in hospital. His sister Tahira, 16, was also stabbed and was treated in hospital for her injuries.
Shaquille had been due to go back to school this week to start his GCSE studies. He was the 25th teenager to die in attacks in London this year.
Thursday 4 September 2008
Two held over fatal stabbing
Two teenagers were arrested yesterday over the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old schoolboy in east London at the weekend, police said.
Shaquille Smith died from a single wound to the stomach after being attacked by a gang of youths in Hackney on Saturday. He was the youngest of 25 teenagers murdered in the capital this year.
The Metropolitan police arrested a 19-year-old in east London early yesterday. A 17-year-old was arrested in the afternoon.
Shaquille was attacked while walking his dog with his sister Tahira, 16, and an 18-year-old friend in a park near his home. Residents described seeing a group of about 15 youths on bikes approach and attack Shaquille as he sat on a bench. Family members, including his mother, tried to help the schoolboy but he died in hospital on Sunday morning.
Tahira also suffered stab wounds to the face and neck during the attack and was discharged from hospital on Monday.
Shaquille's mother yesterday described him as a happy child and a devoted brother who was determined to do well at school and had dreamt of moving to Jamaica.
Shaquille Smith died from a single wound to the stomach after being attacked by a gang of youths in Hackney on Saturday. He was the youngest of 25 teenagers murdered in the capital this year.
The Metropolitan police arrested a 19-year-old in east London early yesterday. A 17-year-old was arrested in the afternoon.
Shaquille was attacked while walking his dog with his sister Tahira, 16, and an 18-year-old friend in a park near his home. Residents described seeing a group of about 15 youths on bikes approach and attack Shaquille as he sat on a bench. Family members, including his mother, tried to help the schoolboy but he died in hospital on Sunday morning.
Tahira also suffered stab wounds to the face and neck during the attack and was discharged from hospital on Monday.
Shaquille's mother yesterday described him as a happy child and a devoted brother who was determined to do well at school and had dreamt of moving to Jamaica.
Two teenagers arrested over fatal stabbing of Shaquille Smith
Two teenagers were arrested today in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old schoolboy in east London.
Shaquille Smith became the youngest of 25 teenagers murdered in the capital this year when he bled to death from a single stab wound to the stomach during the weekend.
Earlier today, the Metropolitan police said a 19-year-old had been arrested in east London during the early hours of this morning.
A 17-year-old male was arrested this afternoon.
Shaquille Smith became the youngest of 25 teenagers murdered in the capital this year when he bled to death from a single stab wound to the stomach during the weekend.
Earlier today, the Metropolitan police said a 19-year-old had been arrested in east London during the early hours of this morning.
A 17-year-old male was arrested this afternoon.
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