Mum still fighting to find son’s murderer
POLICE RELEASE IMAGE OF HOW LOUIS BRATHWAITE MIGHT HAVE LOOKED NOW HAD HE NOT BEEN GUNNED DOWN IN COLD-BLOODED SHOOTING
IT’S the question that has haunted grieving mum Sophia Zollner for 10 long years - but she’s determined to fight on for an answer.
Who murdered her 16-year-old son Louis Brathwaite, and why?
Described by Sophia as a loving, cheeky teenage boy with a passion for motorbikes, Louis was gunned down in a William Hill bookmakers on Mauldeth Road West, Withington, in 2008. He died in hospital 12 days later. No one has ever been convicted over his death, which detectives believe was a ‘reprisal’ shooting following the murder 10 days earlier in Stretford of Halton McCollin, 20.
Sophia, 49, told of her enduring heartache a decade on and issued an appeal as police released an ‘ageprogressed photo’ showing what Louis might look like today if he were alive.
Computer experts have studied dozens of photographs of Louis to compile the likeness.
“I was shocked at first to see how good looking he would have been,” said Sophia, smiling through her anguish.
“Ten years have gone by and there’s not a second that I don’t think about him. It’s very hard. We should be able to see him here in real life.
“I go to the cemetery all the time and look at pictures and videos of him. All I have are these memories and there are people out there who know who did this who are carrying on with their lives. As a family, we are still heartbroken.
“To see your own son dead, no parent should have to go through that.”
Louis was not a gang member, but an inquest into his death was told he knew members of the Fallowfield Man Dem gang, linked to south Manchester’s Gooch Gang.
He had stopped at the bookies with friends after returning from the Trafford Centre.
One masked man held open the door as a gunman fired off five shots indiscriminately from a Magnum at around 8.40pm on January 29, 2008.
Louis was hit several times and a friend of his, who recovered, was also shot. Two masked men were seen running to a waiting VW Golf, which sped away on the wrong side of the road.
CCTV from inside the shop only shows a cloud of smoke as the gun fires.
Police have now revealed that three shots were fired at a group of men standing outside the same bookmakers five days earlier.
Sophia said Louis was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. She recalled giving him a gentle kiss as he was being taken to theatre in hospital, but his condition deteriorated.
“The person who did this, we believe, was young at the time,” she said. “Now this person will have grown up, but they know what they have done.
“They must have a weight on their shoulders and it must be wearing them
down. Everyone has a conscience. This person might have their own family now, they might be different.
“I do not think that I will ever receive justice for Louis because people are scared to talk. I can relate to that.
“So this is a hard thing to ask, for people to come forward.
“I am still begging people to do that because if someone is withholding evidence, they are no better than the gunman.”
Martin Bottomley, head of GMP’s cold case review unit, has issued a public appeal.
“Why would any man choose to go into a betting shop and start indiscriminately firing at innocent people?” he said. “The family have spent the last 10 years with the question of who killed their son hanging over them. Allegiances do change over time and we will never close this case.”
Call 0161 856 5961 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if you have any information.