‘Racism torment’ of tragic teenager pushed into river
A BOY who drowned after allegedly being pushed into a river suffered racist abuse after his family moved from London to a Welsh village, an inquest heard yesterday.
Christopher Kapessa, 13, vanished into the murky water while playing beside the Cynon with friends on a hot summer’s day in July 2019.
Prosecutors concluded that a 14year-old boy who was reportedly seen to push Christopher from a ledge into the water should not be charged with manslaughter, ruling it had been a ‘foolish prank’.
Christopher’s heartbroken mother Alina Joseph believes he was denied justice because he was black – alleging police failed to act on racist abuse the family had suffered. Describing what happened, a 17- year- old told the inquest that he saw the boy push Christopher into the water.
‘ I had a clear view of what happened,’ he said. ‘Everybody for a few seconds didn’t know if he could swim or not and there wasn’t a panic, and when people realised he couldn’t swim people jumped in to try to help him.
‘He was flailing and trying to keep himself above the water.’
The coroner ruled that neither the 14-year-old nor the 17-year-old can be named for legal reasons.
The hearing was told that Christopher had had ‘basic’ swimming lessons with his school but was not confident in water. In a statement, his mother said that he had told her he was going out to play football with friends in nearby Mountain Ash.
But a man later came to her door telling her to ‘come quick, come quick’ as her son ‘had jumped’ from a bridge. Ms Joseph said she was taken to hospital by police where she had to work out for herself that Christopher had tragically died.
The mother of five told South Wales Central Coroner’s Court in Pontypridd that the family moved from London into a refuge in Wales after she suffered domestic abuse.
She said after they settled in the village of Hirwaun her children suffered racial abuse and violence and claimed police failed to investigate properly. ‘We were receiving racial hate letters through the post, and stuff written on the outside walls which was racist,’ she said. She said on one occasion Christopher was left in a ‘pool of blood’ after playing with a friend.
‘This time I didn’t bother calling the police because I had given up calling them,’ she added.
In 2018 the family left Hirwaun after a fire at the house which Ms Joseph said police blamed on her son. ‘Life will never be the same after Christopher’s death,’ she added in her statement. ‘I will continue to fight for justice for him.’
Following a police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute the boy accused of pushing Christopher.
The family challenged the review but it was upheld by the High Court in 2022.
The hearing, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
‘Jumped in to help him’