I forgive who shot
The police did wrong, but do I carry this big hate for them?... No VIVIAN ON HANDLING PAIN OF COP SHOOTING
communal door with an address linked to suspect Hussain Osman.
They had been shown a grainy image of Osman and mistook Jean Charles for him.
Jean Charles was followed on to a Tube platform by police who feared an imminent terror attack and opened fire. The bullets were designed to “petal” – spread on impact – for maximum effect.
The Met Police has repeatedly apologised to the victim’s family and gave a settlement payout of about £100,000 in 2009. It went to his parents. Stay-at-home mum Vivian – whose father Darcy is Jean Charles’s uncle – was 22 at the time. The cousins grew up in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
They went travelling and visited Paris, Dublin and Wales before Vivian moved into Jean Charles’s flat in April 2005.
Ironically, her parents thought London was safer than crimeriddled cities like Sao Paulo.
Photos taken by Vivian that year show Jean Charles smiling in front of the Arc de Triomphe.
Vivian’s last chat with Jean Charles was when she cooked his favourite Mexican chilli, rice and salad two nights before he died.
He had met a girl he liked and was chatting about his dream wedding, saying he would like it to be super traditional.
Vivian didn’t see him again as Jean Charles worked long hours.
She became worried when he didn’t return home after work on Saturday July 22.
A colleague of Jean Charles visited the flat to tell her police had been asking about him.
Vivian went to Brixton police station, seeking answers.
She was shown a picture of Jean Charles and told she had to go to the morgue to identify him.
Vivian sobbed as she gazed at his body, utterly confused by what had happened.
“It was a nightmare. My world