The death of Mariam Moustafa - when Murder is afray

A young teenage woman, is followed by a gang of other women onto a bus. There’s a video showing that for a short period a young man kept the gang of girls away from her. Or so it seems. The video clip is short and would of surely come from one of the gang. The single young lady picked on is of Eygptian descent, the girls who attacked her were said to number between 6 and 10. They hit her many times. As her father indicated in an interview she had bruises all over her body. The gang of other teenage girls were all black. Six of them were taken to court, the names of three were released, but the others were kept confidential.

This young woman was Mariam Moustafa, 18, was attacked on February 20^th, she went to hospital after the attack, where she was discharged. Then was taken again having been found in a coma. On March 14^th she died of a brain embolism. 

Here is a case of the justice system getting it completely wrong. So wrong as to make it look like a laughing stock. It doesn’t matter it took four weeks for Mariam to die after her attack, the result whether delayed or instant was the same. But just imagine, if Mariam had died on that bus, after the assault what the headlines would of been like. There certainly would of been no delay in arresting the gang and keeping them rightfully locked up. 

Perhaps though because Mariam didn't die instantly this has been treated differently. Which is wrong, the assault on Mariam led to her death, this is fact.  Therefore the salient question is why is it no one has been charged with murder?  Everyone of those girls should be charged by joint enterprise as participants to this cowardly gang bullying and murder. 

Poor Mariam had met some of this group before, they had bullied her and they were intent on harming Mariam. The reason is irrelevant for there is nothing this single young lady on her own could have done to protect herself. Nothing she could of done to provoke this, she was effectively a young woman who faced racism, a hate crime and paid with her life.  Mariam ran onto that bus In Parliament Square, Nottingham. To get away from the gang, she wanted to avoid confrontation. She’d even texted her mother and sister not to meet her as she didn’t want them to get involved or hurt. Seeing the momentary video clip of Marian boils up anger when viewed as this was a vulnerable girl being harassed by a gang of cowards. Girls who should not be allowed a day of liberty, girls who should be paying for their crime properly.

This young lady had her life in front of her, she wanted to be an engineering student, she was loved by her family so much. Her father Mohamed Moustafa is rightly angry at the British justice system, and so to is Eygpt as the story took off like a bomb shell in their press. Mr Moustafa was not kept up to date with the hearing schedule for the accused girls, the courts had kept him in the dark. He had no chance to stare them in the face.

The identified culprits are Mariah Fraser, 19, Britania Hunter, 18, and a 16-year-old girl, admitted their part in the attack before Judge Gregory Dickinson QC on April 16. Three other teenage girls, two aged 17 and one aged 18 admitted affray at Nottingham Youth Court last year.

There should be a consequence to a crime and the consequence should equal the severity of the crime in law. I put it, if all the six girls were on charge for this crime and murder by joint enterprise, they'd crack. Under the pressure of TV, press and pointing the finger of blame at each other. The truth would come out, their vile and disgusting behaviour aired for all to hear. Then justice would be served. So the Crown Prosecution Service have got it wrong. They have not thought this through. Therefore the question is why are they all not on murder charges?

Murderers Cherelle McKenzie-Jackson and Marc Tulloch

I have just read an article about the teenage murderers: Cherelle McKenzie-Jackson, 14 and Marc Tulloch, 17. In yet an another incidence of moronic behaviour they killed a boy who was playing football. The victim was Junior Nkwelle, 15.  Cherelle apparently did not like the way Junior had spoken to her, she felt aggrieved, so aggrieved in fact she decided Junior had to pay for his behaviour. For some reason Cherelle believed she was special and if insulted by another teenager they should pay for it. Junior paid for it when Marc Tulloch stabbed him in the chest to appease his girl friend Cherelle. It is another act of mindless violence and mindless disregard for life.  No doubt both Cherelle and Marc had no consideration for consequences. This seems to be a common thing with teenagers. Junior was not considered as a human being, he was not considered to be the son, nephew or brother of another person. He was not thought of for the good deeds he had done during his life which Cherelle and Marc were not aware of.  He was evaluated by a judge and jury of only two people, two teenage kids full of ignorance and self worth.  Remarkably these two murderers were not sentenced to murder but rather man slaughter, when this vengeful act was actually premeditated. Cherelle set the whole thing up. In view of this their sentences would seem pretty light Cherelle got 8 years and Marc 10 years. However, they will only serve half this time.

There may have been a degree of verbal provocation, but verbal provocation is something every person must live with during their entire life. It happens every day. Normal people learn if they are provoked to use many different strategies. Walking away, verbal argument, physical violence which is non fatal, verbal reasoning, humour and laughter. The list of coping strategies is endless, it is as imaginative as a human being can be. Whilst the solution from Cherelle and Marc was probably the least imaginative of all.

I am always saddened whenever I read the news about teenagers who are murdered or who are killers and take no responsibility or thought about what they have done. I am saddened to yet again read of this happening in London. On a housing estate (Loughborough Estate) in Lambeth South London. It is an area which suffers from poverty, it has both gangs and drugs issues. It is in fact a common factor of many housing estates in London.  With poverty there is ignorance as well.  It is poor kids killing poor kids, because I never hear of rich kids killing rich kids in the same way. 

Poor late Junior had his life ahead of him, he could of expected to live another 60 or 70 years, had a girlfriend and got married and had a family. Junior and his parents will never see what his sons or daughters would of been like. How he could of enriched this planet. In the meantime Cherelle and Marc will likely serve a total of 9 years and then be let free.  It seems in such instances life is cheap. Both sentences should of been double. Maybe they will come out of prison having learnt something, but at that time they will still both be pretty young, well at least they have time to think about consequences. If that is they do.

Boy murdered at Victoria station 25 March 2010

It is incredibly sad to hear a boy of 15 years of age was stabbed and murdered at Victoria Tube station.  His name was Sofyen Belamouadden. The worse part is it was a group murder, in which as many as 20 other school children were also involved.  Those involved wore school uniforms.

This is a typical example of "group think" taking place, or "mob rule."   I'm sure individually none of those persons would have done this deed on their own.  However, with peers present it became easier.  The group mind took over, even the most intelligent gang members would of dropped 20 IQ points.  There is also no doubt, no consideration was taken as to whether they would actually kill the boy even though knives were used.  For if they did understand what the repercussions would be then the surface of their consciousness might be pricked.  The group mind is also cultural to young teenagers.  It is as though many believe they are in some kind of war.  They aspire to be noticed, to show they are big and respectable in their insular circles.  Circles which are based on the school they go to and the area they are bought up in.  Blame is sometimes put on violent musical lyrics, or on the Americanisation of youth culture, however, ultimately the blame is with the individual who carries a knife and then uses it.  If we are to believe these individuals are free from homicidal intent, then the blame may be proportionately put on  politics, schooling, local area, peers, TV and lets not forget poverty.

Responsibility is a matter of knowing what consequences are and accepting them.  It is difficult to ponder what the answer is in the case of homicide by gang culture, especially when thinking of justice.  For if the rest of the world takes the same view this group did at the time they ambushed their victim, they would all be pushing up daisies themselves.  Who truely knows what the answer is, except somewhere there is now a family in mourning at the stupid and sensless loss of a young man's life. 

Goth mindlessly killed by drunk teenage boys

In the last few days the sentencing of two teenage boys has been in the press. They had savagely kicked to death a 20 year old goth girl in August 2007. At the time they began their attack on her she was cradling the head of her boyfriend who had already been subjected to a gang kicking. The two teenage boys were the ring leaders and the murderers. The girl was Sophie Lancaster. Sophie and her boyfriend Robert Maltby, both were put into hospital and it took 2 weeks for Sophie to die. As one article I've just read put it:

"Stephen Herbert, 16, and Brendan Harris, 15, repeatedly stamped upon Sophie Lancaster's head as she lay semi-conscious in a suburban park"

Lets consider this was in a public park (Bacup Park), the teenagers were intoxicated, they were part of a gang which normally number 20 plus. The goths looked different, didn't fit in and so to this degree they would of been the typical focal point for bullies. At first the gang had chatted to Robert and Sophie and then led them into the park. Once there the murder took place. Ryan Herbert and Brendan Harris had also 4 months earlier been found guilty of a similar attack on a 14 year old boy and were given a mere 4 months community service. With the alcohol and the mindset of a crowd of peers the murder became an evening's entertainment. Whether it was their intention to kill Sophie is not noted in the press. However, the ignorance and lack of remorse of these attackers is apparent in a comment made by one of the police officers:

"The only thing these lads think they have done wrong is to be caught. It was almost as though they were laughing and joking about what they had done".

Herbert's and Harris's parents were equally condemned in the press because of their attitude, they had lied to the police to prevent their sons being caught, and in their catastrophic parenting skills they saw nothing wrong in letting their sons get drunk, and terrorise the community. Indeed they share the blame.

A person I know said to me, the teenager murderers who did this should be subjected to the same punishment they dealt out against Sophie and Robert. In this act of retribution these teenage boy murderers would then lose their lives. The manner and savagery of their unprovoked attack on Sophie and Robert certainly does initiate such thoughts, and the question of why should they be allowed to live the remainder of their lives although a number years in prison also comes to mind.

At the time this view was passed on to me I hadn't read about this murder. My thoughts were it was a stupid act, one which they will regret for the rest of their lives and equally paying with life does not mean a wrong senseless act is rectified. But when I consider if this were to happen to anyone I loved, I do know how I'd feel about it and my feelings would likely be to seek a settling of the score. The thing is, if a relative of a victim were to in turn kill a murderer it would be pre meditated. Perhaps even considered worse. However, the motive or revenge rather than entertainment would be justice. Of course the chances of catching a murderer are exceedingly high in the UK. From what I understand is over 95%. If murder could be justified by a revenge attack then it's likely the culprit would be caught as well. Subsequently they would spend years in prison and miss the growing up of their loved ones.

The only punishment Herbert and Harris can have which will effect them is their own conscience, but a long period of their freedom deprived will satisfy the Law. I hope during their spell in prison they think over what they have done and understand it's stupidity. Their remorse haunts them, and especially their ignorance, an ignorance which many teenagers wear like a medal. I have no doubt the young lives of Harris and Herbert were insular and depressive. Yet they made the decision to kill and in making this choice had become adults and murderers. Life is such a precious thing and should not be taken in such a way by anyone, you're a long time dead and only a short time alive.