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Stabbing: the mother's grief
Kiran Randhawa, Evening Standard4 Jun 2008
Stricken with grief, the mother of stabbed schoolgirl Arsema Dawit leaves her London home today as she is taken to see her daughter's body.
Weeping uncontrollably, Tsehay Dawit was supported by her surviving daughter Feruz, 12, as she made her way to the car taking her to the mortuary.
Before she left, she pointed at the floral tributes laid outside the door to the block of flats where they lived in Lambeth and repeated over and over again: "How could they do this? It was here they left my daughter."
Today 15-year-old Arsema's family want to know why more was not done to protect the former choirgirl who was knifed to death more than a month after she first complained about death threats from a stalker.
As mourners gathered outside their home today, one woman blamed her death on the police. "What's the point in having a police presence here now?" she said.
Family friend Simon Tesfaghiorgish said the man known as Thomas who had allegedly been stalking Arsema was part of her circle of friends. He added: "I met Thomas about three times and he seemed normal. I saw him twice in Arsema's house, but he was not her boyfriend. He would turn up with one of her friends and was welcomed into the home."
