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Police hold teenager over killing of cadet, 14
Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent03.09.08
Police investigating the murder of 14-year-old Shaquille Smith made their first arrest today and his mother issued an emotional statement about her son.
Murder squad detectives raided an address in Clapton early this morning and arrested a teenager in connection with Saturday's murder in St Thomas's Place, Hackney. The suspect, said to be in his late teens, is being questioned at an east London police station.
Army cadet Shaquille was attacked by a gang of up to 15 teenagers on BMX bikes and fatally stabbed in the stomach while walking a dog with his sister, Tahira, 16, and an 18-year-old friend only yards from his home.
He is the 20th and youngest teenager to be stabbed in London this year and the 25th to be violently murdered. His mother Sandra Maitland, a social worker, said: "For 13 years, Shaquille was the youngest of my four children, until I had his baby sister a year ago.
"He wanted a boy, so that he could play football with him. When he had a baby sister he was mesmerised by her, and being the big brother she became the focus of his life. Before she was one, she could say his name, 'Shaq', as he said it to her every minute of the day, even when she was sleeping.
"Shaquille loved life and his family, including those in Jamaica. He spent his young years growing up with his grandmother and other family members.
Shaquille loved Jamaica. He pleaded with me to let him live in Jamaica. When I asked him why he preferred Jamaica, he replied: 'All my friends and family are on the same road, and I don't have to travel to see people. I feel free.'
"Shaquille said to me a week before his death: 'Mum, this has been my best summer, I have really enjoyed myself. Usually I can't wait for it to be over so I can return to school but this year I want to stay at home and have more fun.'
"He had a unique character and common touch that would have both taken him to the top and maintained him there. He was a tough individual with a lot of drive, with an easygoing nature."
Reader views (3)
My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Shaquille Maitland-Smith. It is so sad to see the life of another black youth taken on the streets of London in such a senseless fashion. I hope that the individual, or individuals who are responsible for this will be brought to swift justice. I also hope that the government and local councils alike will realise that this problem will not simply go away, these young people are seriously lost, and until the the powers that be realise that this is not simply a trend that some young are following, but for many this has become a lifestyle. It is clear that if serious steps are not taken to deal with this now, it will continue to ruin the lives of young people of every nationality in generations to come.
- Nigel-Paul Brissett, London
My heart bleeds with sorrow every time I read of a young life being taken away like that. Having been a teacher in a CFE, I appreciate even more the pressure these youth are feeling in the outside with these gangs and all. In the College I was in, we often had the police at the gates checking in entrants for knives and drugs. The only way out of this misery is to mobilise these youth by re-civilizing them through a drill type service, this is the only way especially for many refractory cases, prison will never work, it only will make them more virulent.
- Nabil H, London, UK
This is so heart breaking my heart breaks for him, his family, its awful, how can we stop this carnage? I m lost for words. Peace.
- Kev, London
