Child ‘stood laughing’ as girl drowned in river
BOY WHO TRIED TO SAVE YOUNGSTER PRAISED BY CORONER AT INQUEST
A CHILD who went swimming with a 12-year-old Somalian refugee stood ‘laughing’ as she drowned in the River Irwell, an inquest heard.
The body of Shukri Abdi was found in the water near Bury town centre on June 2019.
A group of children with her at the time can only be referred to as Child One, Child Two, Child Three and Child Four for legal reasons.
An inquest into her death heard how Shukri, who couldn’t swim, had been ‘floating’ on her back in the water with her arm around the shoulder of Child One for support.
But when Child One swam back to the riverbank Shukri got into difficulties.
Giving evidence via video link Child Four, who was sat on the bank at the time, was asked ‘at any point when Shukri was struggling was Child One laughing?’
He replied ‘yes.’
Asked what he thought when he saw Child One laughing, he replied: “I thought she thought Shukri was joking, but me and (Child Three) could tell she wasn’t joking because her head kept going under.”
Child Four said Child One continued to laugh even after he jumped into the water to try to save Shukri.
Asked ‘at what point did Child One stop laughing?,’ he replied: “When the police came, a couple of minutes later.”
But Child Three, when asked the same questions, denied Child One was laughing. He told the inquest Child One swam back to the rocks and stood there ‘not saying anything.’
Earlier Child Four said when asked by Child One if she could swim Shukri had replied she was ‘all right at swimming.’ But Child Three told the inquest Shukri said she couldn’t swim and said Child One told her ‘I will help you swim. I will teach you.’
Asked if anyone said anything ‘rude,’ ‘unpleasant’ or ’threatening’ to Shukri both Child Three and Child Four replied ‘no.’
Asked if Shukri, who was born in a Kenyan refugee camp to Somalian parents, was reluctant to go to the river both Child Three and Child Four said ‘no.’
They also said the three girls seemed to be friends because they were ‘being nice to each other’ and laughing and joking.
Earlier the inquest was shown video footage of Child Four’s police interview, which was conducted the day after Shukri’s death.
Child Four told police he met Child Three that afternoon near McDonald’s on The Rock in Bury. The pair went to the cinema to watch Toy Story 4, then bumped into Shukri, Child One and Child Two.
All five children then walked to the river near Bury police station.
Child Four told how after seeing Shukri, who had been in the UK since 2017, getting into difficulties he jumped into the water to try save her.
He said: “(Child One) and the other girl (Shukri) were swimming near the waterfall. (Child One) swam back over to us, then the other girl starting drifting over to the rocks, then she went under and didn’t come back up.
“I went in and looked for her but I couldn’t see anything under the water.
“Me and (Child Three) ran to the police station and I think (Child One) called an ambulance.”
Police divers recovered Shukri’s body from the water just after 11.30pm.
On behalf of Shukri’s family, coroner Joanne Kearsley thanked Child Four for his bravery. She said: “You were an exceptionally brave young man. You did everything you could to try and save Shukri. You were very, very brave and the family want to thank you for all the efforts you made.”
● Proceeding