Morning:
8°c
On Sunday, as the early evening sun split the sky, a crowd of teenagers ran noisily down the street in front of my house. They seemed excited and boisterous; moments earlier they'd been throwing water bombs at each other, just like children should in a heatwave.
Then I noticed the police car parked at the foot of the road, and the officers in stab-proof vests heading into Whittington Park, off Holloway Road.
With a jolt, I realised the children weren't playing. They were gathering to witness the aftermath of a horrific crime. Moments earlier, two boys, aged 15 and 16, had been stabbed, their seriously injured bodies found slumped in my local park and outside a pub a couple of streets away.
But, shocking though this crime was, a worse incident overshadowed it - the knife murder in broad daylight of a young man on Oxford Street the very next day.
Three other stabbings occurred on Monday, two in Peckham, another in Dalston. All this and London was still reeling from the seemingly unprovoked slaying of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen in a bakery on Saturday, attacked buying sausage rolls with his brother.
Throughout this whole bloody episode I've felt nothing but sorrow and sympathy - for the victims, their families, the mess that our city is in because of the upsurge of knife culture.
And then something happened that turned my blood cold. I read that Steven Bigby, the Oxford Street victim, had been charged with one of the most sickening attacks of recent months - the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl at a house on the North Circular Road. After the attack, her rapists doused her in caustic soda in an attempt to destroy DNA evidence.
She was left fighting for her life with unimaginable injuries.
That Bigby was not just a victim of violent crime but also stood accused of being a perpetrator has caused my liberal empathy to evaporate. Astonishingly, he was on bail. Not only for his alleged part in this gruesome rape, but also for a stabbing in north London in 2006.
We'll never know the true extent of Bigby's involvement in the crimewave sweeping London. But while I used to think the majority of these attacks happened in the heat of the moment, the partial picture we can now see suggests a sick and vicious cycle operating in uncomfortably close proximity to our own lives. This week I've had to cycle around police tape on my way to and from work, aware that children's blood still stains the tarmac.
Volatile men with pockets full of knives and drugs lashing out at each other is terrible enough. But that rape in January was sustained, coldblooded and sadistic. No number of excuses about culture and deprivation can forgive it. A group of men set out to ruin a girl's life, then disfigured her into the bargain.
Even the death of a bad man is a terrible loss for someone. But the real tragedy here is that Steven Bigby will never now face justice for the crimes of which he was accused.
Reader views (4)
Liberal empathy? That's exactly what got us into this state. What was built up over centuries has been systematically dismantled by liberal empathises over the last few decades.
- Johnc, UK, 22/07/2008 11:35
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Don't know if he will "never face justice". I reckon he got just what he deserved. If he hadn't been murdered, he probably would have got 2 months on remand and a security tag for the next six months, and then done the same thing again.
- Samantha, London UK, 15/05/2008 23:02
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Can the evening standard get an answer as to why such a person was out on bail - and employed as a security guard? How is that possible? please find out for us.
- Ivegotanasbo, London, 15/05/2008 18:43
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I don't particularly agree with the columnist. "Innocent until proven guilty, One wrong should not beget another" and all that. Same as Jimmy Mizen, here was a young man stabbed to death unnecessarily.
What I would like to know is this, how does someone on bail and with such allegations to his name get employed as a security guard? What is the level of detail these agencies request for before forwarding people for such sensitive employment? Can we determine if his actions as a security personnel-the nature of his employment suggestive of violence, inflicted or received- have all been in the interest of his employers?
And where are all these knives coming from? You wouldn't purchase a kitchen knife to prowl the streets, so that rules out tailing the cooking enthusiasts of Britain after they purchase a set from Tesco's. I suggest we have a repeat knife amnesty day, and then enable the police to stop and search, arrest and prosecute with intent to cause bodily harm, any and all persons carrying pocket knives with blades intended for larger fare than a nectarine.
- Ama, London, 15/05/2008 12:24
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