‘amazing young man’ lobbied mps to tackle youth violence
ChEriFF tall had travelled to the houses of Parliament to lobby MPs on youth violence, it has emerged.
A youth worker and friend of Cheriff’s devastated family revealed his Westminster visit as she said Moss side remains in shock and grief at the death of an ‘amazing young man’.
speaking close to the scene of the tragedy, Akemia Minott said: “he was probably one of the most popular, well-liked young men in the community. Everybody knew him. he was very cheeky, but very happy and very manageable.
“he was probably the only young man i’ve ever known that i wanted to hit and hug all at the same time. he had a great relationship with so many young people and so many workers in the community.
“And he had been through so much in recent years. he lost a friend to youth violence when four men all got attacked.
“he was a close, lifelong friend and the impact on him and his friendship group was massive. A lot of them haven’t recovered from that yet and now the death of Cheriff has intensified all that.”
Akemia, a director at 84 youth, worked with Cheriff for around 15 years.
she said: “it was great taking Cheriff on residentials and stuff like that.
“he has been to the houses of Parliament with us to challenge MPs on what they’re going to do about youth violence and how they’re going to address situations.
“obviously that’s incredibly sad when you look at what’s happened. he was the little joker in the pack. if you had 12 kids he was always the one to entertain you throughout.
“he was an amazing young man and i am extremely privileged to have known him as a youth worker and for him to have engaged with me for so long.
“i’m struggling at the minute with grief. We’re all trying not to break down in front of each other and be strong for each other. But i know it’s incredibly difficult for a lot of people. his family obviously more so but the wider community as well. i have no idea why this happened.”