Monday 3 October 2011

Culture Clash

Julie Sheriff, 16, suffered severe head injuries after a row with a girl in Clapham. She spent four months in a coma and had shown signs of recovery but her condition deteriorated and she died last Wednesday.

Her father, Raouf, who brought her to Britain in 2006 from Sierra Leone, where he was a policeman, said Julie had fallen out with a group of friends in a row over a £5 note and a bus pass in the months before she was attacked in May - and blames them for her death.
And although Sierra Leone has had a recent civil war, things are improving and this sort of senseless savagery must have come as a bit of a shock…
Mr Sheriff, who lives in Hackney, claimed Julie had been hounded since January by the group.

Detectives are understood to be investigating the theory that the row in Falcon Road was not connected with them.
? Either that’s a clumsy bit of writing or the ‘Evening Standard’ thinks the police aren’t seeing any link here.

According to Wikipedia, the key mission of the Sierra Leone Police Force is ’… to prevent crime, to protect life and property, to detect and prosecute offenders, to maintain public order, to ensure safety and security, to enhance access to justice.’ So Mr Sheriff must have expected the same thing from the UK police.
Holding back the tears he told how he had called police to his flat when the girls turned up one evening.

He said: "The girls had been at the flat two days before and my daughter's £5 note had gone missing, while one of them said they had lost a bus pass. It escalated and I asked them to leave.

"Then they turned up throwing stones and threatening my daughter. I called the police and they spoke to my daughter who was crying in her bedroom.

"The girls had told her they would attack her at school, but the police refused to do anything as there was no CCTV on the estate."
Which must have come as a bit of a surprise to Mr Sheriff, who probably never saw CCTV in his entire career, let alone regarded it as essential to policing…
Mr Sheriff, who has another daughter Favour, three, asked the Independent Police Complaints Authority to look into the case. He said: "Julie was so good natured, and trusting. We came here for a better life but we had no protection from the police."
Welcome to Britain, Mr Sheriff...

8 comments:

Woman on a Raft said...

Why, when Sierra Leone is trying to resurrect itself, are we denuding it of the responsible middle-classes such as competent police officers?

One of the problems the developing world has is that we keep poaching its nurses, doctors and police officers, even mining its footballers for our teams.

Woman on a Raft said...

Interesting:

"The police can't tell me they do not have enough information to act on my complaint.The police interviewed my daughter on the night when they came to my house.she explained and gave names of all the girls that attacked my house whilst sher was crying. One of the police accompany me to the scene and saw the stones scattered around, all they could tell me is no cctv on the estate.I chase them up and even when my daughter was stabbed I chase them again, what they could tell me is that there is no report on there system for my address. The report came up in there system misteriously when they notice that I have made a formal complaint to the IPCC. This is not the first time I have been a victim. In Nov.2010 an unknown boys entered and break into my property from the front door to my bedroom whilst my daughter was in her bedroom. She attacked the boys when they wanted to remove my tele and other stuff, and she manage to phone me on my arrival I notice that my bedroom door inches was broken and all other stuff was scattered on the floor by then my daughter who called my help was crying. I called the police and on there arrival myself and my daughter explained to the police what had happen,all they could tell me is that they will only investigate if they could arrest my daughter as first suspect which anger me the most,at the end no investigation. So I see no reason for them to tell me there was no much information for them to intervene. Now I am the loser, but I believe the truth will prevail at the end.

- raouf, london, 29/09/2011 15:41

If it ain't broke said...

I hate to say it, but it depends which 'victim group' loses out here if the police did their job.

The scum who ultimately killed this child may have come from fatherless homes, so they win. This poor girl had a father who cared, so that counts for less in the vibrant, diverse Britain than will the chavs who 'innit' all day on mobile phones but have no parental guidance.

Protect the chavs is the new cry for broken Britain!

Gallovidian said...

"chavs"?

Are you accusing Whitey? On what grounds?

If the perpetrators were White I would expect a massive police response, a Crimewatch Rayceesm Special, a mini-series, an emergency debate in parliament.

The girl was stabbed to death with an Afro comb. Not her own.

Understand now?

Captain Haddock said...

I guess that Sierra Leone needs its "Sheriff" rather more than we do ...

blueknight said...

"..but the police refused to do anything as there was no CCTV on the estate."

Sad but true. One girl's story against three or four and no independent evidence, the CPS would never run it.

Did I mention the suspect girls would get a 'free' Solicitor who would advise them not to answer questions.

Be interesting to see what the IPCC make of it.

JuliaM said...

"One of the problems the developing world has is that we keep poaching its nurses, doctors and police officers..."

Spot on!

"Interesting..."

If that comment is real.... well, just 'Wow'!

"Are you accusing Whitey? On what grounds?"

Chav, or so I've assumed, is a race-neutral word. Isn't it?

"Be interesting to see what the IPCC make of it."

According to that story, they immediately washed their hands of it:

'An IPCC spokesman said it had referred the case back to the Met as police had not had "specific information on which they should have acted earlier".'

I hope he persists...

Gallovidian said...

""Are you accusing Whitey? On what grounds?"

Chav, or so I've assumed, is a race-neutral word. Isn't it?"

I had thought it was a pejorative term only used against White people. If I am wrong I apologize. Wikipedia, that source of all knowledge, lists the US equivalents of "Chav" as being "White Trash" and "Wigger".