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Another knife victim: Stabbed 16-year-old dies after begging for his mother
Justin Davenport and Danny Brierley04.07.08
The latest teenage victim of London's knife crime crisis was chased like an animal and left pleading for his mother as he lay dying in the street.
Shakilus Townsend, 16, died today after a daylight gang attack, which a senior detective described as "another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a knife".
The teenager is believed to have been stabbed five times in the chest and stomach after being chased by up to six youths wearing masks and hoods. At least one girl was among them. Police later found a blood-covered knife in a nearby bush in Thornton Heath.
Shakilus, from New Cross, died in St George's Hospital, Tooting, early today, 10 hours after the attack.
He is the 18th teenager to be murdered in London this year. The killing was also the sixth fatal stabbing in London since Sunday. Scotland Yard responded by launching a task force to take on young people who carry knives.
The murdered boy's grandfather said today the tragedy had devastated his family. Wayne Dyer, in his late fifties, said: "My daughter Nikki phoned me at six o'clock this morning to tell me he had died.
"She just said to me, 'They have killed Shakilus.'
"She has been at the hospital with Shakilus's dad and is with the police, talking to them. We're all very upset."
Neighbours in Beulah Crescent, Thornton Heath, described how they desperately tried to save Shakilus.
Dee Bamina, 35, tried to stem the bleeding from a wound to his chest with a bath towel after another neighbour brought the stabbed teenager into the communal doorway of her block of flats.
She said: "I think a group of boys must have been after the boy. All I heard was them saying, 'Get him from the other side.'"
Ms Bamina saw a gang of four or five boys aged 15 to 19 with scarves covering their faces. One had a baseball bat. A light-skinned black girl was also with them, she said.
"I tried to ask him his name and to tell him to calm down and lie down because he was trying to get up and go." She said the boy was saying, "I don't want to die" and "Where's my mum? I want my mum."
Richard Higgins, 17, who came out of his flat to find the boy outside, said: "I heard my neighbour screaming and I walked down my stairs and the first thing I saw was the blood ... He was flitting in and out of consciousness and kept saying, 'I can't breathe. I think I'm going to die.' I just kept trying to talk to him to keep him conscious."
Scotland Yard said the attack was believed to be gang related.
Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, who is leading the investigation, said: "This is another senseless incident in which a young life has been taken away by a knife.
"This happened outside a block of flats in broad daylight and I am certain there are people who will have witnessed this murder. I would urge those people to come forward and speak to the police, to help us bring justice to Shakilus's family and friends."
One 17-year-old boy, who lives near the scene, said stabbings were commonplace in the area. "If he hadn't died, no one would have cared about this, it would have just been another stabbing," he said.
"You grow up around here, you always see the yellow [police incident] boards around and then you wake up and see 20 police vans outside. How are the police or the Government going to be able to sort this out if we as kids don't know why this sort of stuff 's going on?"
Residents in Thornton Heath today called for greater police presence on the streets.
Peter Gibbs, 60, said: "I have asked for more patrols and the police never listen. There was a shooting around here last time and nobody came. It's a disgrace. I've seen gangs around and I am afraid. I want the police to do something about it but nobody helps. I feel terrified."
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