Now murdered schoolboy’s mum dies ‘of broken heart’
THE mother of public schoolboy Yousef Makki has died of suspected sepsis after she ‘lost the fight in her’ following her son’s killing.
Debbie Makki, 55, became ill last week and was rushed to hospital when she woke up unable to move.
The mother-of-four was found to have an infection and was moved to intensive care on Saturday afternoon after her condition deteriorated rapidly. She died from multiple organ failure in the early hours of yesterday.
Mrs Makki’s family revealed she had said she ‘wanted to be with Yousef’ in her final weeks and had ‘lost the fight in her’ after her son’s killer, Joshua Molnar, 18, was cleared of murder and manslaughter last July.
Molnar, who is from a wealthy family, admitted stabbing Yousef, 17, but claimed selfdefence. He was jailed for 16 months for possessing a knife and lying to police.
Mrs Makki and Yousef’s sister Jade Akoum, 29, launched Justice for Yousef, a campaign seeking a full inquest into the teenager’s death.
It has resulted in an inquiry by the Independent Office for Police Conduct into alleged failings by Cheshire Police.
But the coronavirus lockdown saw progress stall and Mrs
Makki was devastated at being unable to spend time with grandchildren Raafat, 11, Zach, three, and Daniel, two, who had helped raise her spirits.
Mrs Akoum did not get the chance to say goodbye to her mother at Wythenshawe Hospimum tal, Manchester, because of lockdown, as she has had to self-isolate. Other family members were at the hospital.
She said: ‘Mum died with a broken heart and we knew she wanted justice for Yousef and I promise you mum we won’t give up... She was not strong enough to fight. Lockdown isolated my
from her grandchildren who kept her going and she had too much time to think about the loss of Yousef. We love you so, so much, I didn’t think my heart could take any more pain and loss and grief.’
Mrs Akoum added: ‘She wondered why the families of the boys involved in Yousef’s death have never contacted her and how they could be so cruel. It kept her awake most nights.’
The family added Mrs Makki’s ex-husband Ghaleb, Yousef’s father, was ‘devastated’.
Yousef, who went to Manchester Grammar School, was killed in March last year in the village of Hale Barns, near Manchester. Molnar was released early in February after serving just over seven months in prison.
‘Wanted to be with Yousef’