Bleed kits More life-saving aids installed following tragic deaths
POTENTIALLY life-saving medical equipment has been installed in St Pauls following fatal stabbings.
Two new ‘bleed kits’ are now accessible to the public in the area, following tragic knife crime that has claimed three lives in the past 12 months.
Aliki ‘Alex’ Mamwa, 30, was stabbed to death on Ashley Road on March 5. It followed separate incidents in the Grosvenor Road area in 2023 – Hubert ‘Isaac’ Brown, 61, was fatally attacked in September, while Eddie Kinuthia died aged just 19 after being stabbed in July. Murder investigations are ongoing.
Following the high number of fatalities and injuries from kniferelated incidents in the city so far in 2024, people across Bristol’s communities have been taking action. The family of sixteen-yearold Darrian Williams, who was stabbed in Rawnsley Park on February 14, have also launched a campaign to install more bleed kits across the city.
The kits provide essential tools to help slow the bleeding in case of a knife crime attack.
Like defibrillators used for heart attacks, it is their immediacy and public accessibility that can make all the difference before emergency
services arrive.
The two new medical kits in St Pauls, both in close proximity to the recent stabbings, were sponsored by a private company and an individual. One is at the Malcolm X Community Centre, which had an
emergency bleed control kit installed on March 18, donated by AMW plumbing and heating company.
The kit at the local community centre is available for use seven days a week, 24 hours a day and is
registered with South Western Ambulance Service. Earlier this week, a second kit was installed inside a local shop on Grosvenor Road.
The bleed kit is currently inside the Green Melon shop and is available for public use during the shop’s opening hours. It has been paid for by local businessman Abdul Malik, who told the Post that they are currently seeking permission to move the kit outside so it can be made available 24 hours a day.
Bleed kits have become more present in Bristol since campaigner Leanne Reynolds began championing their importance, following the death of Dontae Davis in Lawrence Hill in October 2021. Her mission has secured backing from the NHS and the Daniel Baird Foundation – a charity which was set up to raise money to buy and install the kits following the death of a 26-year-old who was stabbed in Birmingham in 2017.
One of the Bristol kits has already saved the life of an 11-year-old who had his leg sliced open in Filwood Broadway.
Two Asda supermarkets are also set to have bleed kits installed after teammates of 16-year-old Max Dixon and 15-year-old Mason Rist, who were stabbed in Knowle West in January, raised money for them.
Leanne is a signatory for the Together for Change campaign, which has seen community leaders, groups, schools and sports facilities join Bristol’s media and demand change and say enough is enough.