Man’s gonna die, man’s gonna die
BRITAIN’S VIOLENT CRIME EPIDEMIC Heartbreaking last words of stabbed boy, 15
A “sweet little boy” predicted he was going to die with his last words – yet another young victim of Britain’s raging violent crime epidemic.
Jai Sewell, 15, had gone out to buy a takeaway, when he was reportedly ambushed by two men armed with a machete who had been lying in wait.
The schoolboy was described by his family as a “lovely, kind beautiful boy” who dreamed of being a cartoonist.
A passer-by who battled to save Jai, who was attacked just 500 yards from his South East London home, said he kept repeating “man’s gonna die, man’s gonna die”, before falling unconscious in a pool of blood on the floor of the chicken shop.
Yesterday, a 17-year-old became the 21st teenager to die in a stabbing in the capital this year. He was attacked outside Clapham South Tube station, in South West London. Last night, the station stayed closed.
Met Police said: “A 17-year-old male was found suffering from a stab wound. He was taken to a South London hospital where his life was pronounced extinct at 5.23pm.”
That murder is the 249th fatal stabbing across the UK so far this year – more than the total for both 2015 and 2016. It came as a senior police officer warned Britain has become a “Wild West”, with violence rising and children as young as nine carrying knives.
Jackie Sebire, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said there were 69,000 child woundings in the year to June – a stabbing or other violent incident resulting in severe injury to a child between 10 and 15 years old. The figure was an increase of 4,000 on the year before.
Ms Sebire, who is also Assistant Chief Constable of Bedfordshire, said levels of violence were worse than anything she had experienced in her 26-year career.
She described a “constant torrent” of murders and knife attacks and said that young perpetrators were showing “disregard” for the consequences of their actions.
Official figures released last month revealed knife crime has hit a new record in England and Wales, while violence continues to soar as the number of cases solved are falling.
The Office for National Statistics said police recorded 39,332 knife offences – the highest number on record and an annual increase of 12% in the year to June, 2018.
In the same period, overall violence rose by 19% to almost 1.5 million crimes, homicide increased by 14% and robbery by 22%.
Scotland Yard said police were called to reports of a stabbing in Bellingham, South East London, at 5.22pm on Thursday. Jai staggered into Morley’s chicken restaurant where he was given first aid, before being taken to hospital, where he died at 8.15pm.
Hospital IT worker Thomas Coffie, 23, described his desperate efforts to try
to save the teenager’s life. He said: “I was passing the takeaway and saw him staggering with a wound.
“There was a slash in his jacket. I took my shirt off to put in the wound.
“He kept saying ‘man’s gonna die, man’s gonna die’. Then he stopped talking and slumped down. I was covered in blood. It’s terrible.”
Mr Coffie said he tried to put pressure on the wounds “just to keep him alive
until the ambulance arrived”. He added: “He had been cut in his stomach and his chest. His lung and stomach was hanging out of him.
“I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t stay there – I do not feel safe here any more.”
Jai’s aunt Rochelle, 32, said the teenager – who lived nearby with his grandmother – had not been involved with gangs, adding: “He said he was going out to get some food and he never came back.”
She said: “He loved riding his mountain bike, was very bright and brilliant at art. He wanted to be a cartoonist.
“He was basically a young boy who played out on his bike and met up with friends. It was a normal day it seemed, but he never came back. We are heartbroken.”
A tearful woman at Jai’s family home said yesterday: “He was just a lovely, lovely boy and his family are all completely heartbroken.”
Tayla Ann Warwick said she grew up with Jai, who lived on the same road as her grandmother, and said he used to “love roller skating” and often rode his bike around the area.
The 19-year-old said: “It’s so shocking, I spoke to him the other day. He was the kindest person, he was so loving and thoughtful. He was well known with everyone.”
A police cordon remains in place around the row of shops where the teenager was attacked. Friends came to leave tributes to Jai – placing bouquets of flowers at the scene.
One tribute read: “RIP baby boy, I am so sorry this happened, sleep tight.” A former classmate of Jai stood at the crime scene with his mother.
The young boy said: “Jai was popular, but for the right reasons. He was always talkative and very respectful. He was really into football and he played at school.”
Horrified locals described the chaotic aftermath of the attack.
Deanne Wright, 36, lives in the area and often saw Jai with his grandmother. She said: “He was very close with his nan – she raised him. I often saw him out and about or on the bus. He was a sweet and caring boy.”
She went to Morley’s after a friend told her about the incident. Ms Wright said: “I saw him, he was on the floor, I saw him lying there.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick described the murder as a “horrible thing to happen to that family, to that community and of course to that poor lad”.
She called for a “common sense, practical” and “old fashioned” approach to policing.
Ms Dick backed Sara Thornton, chairwoman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, who has said forces must focus on catching burglars and violent offenders rather than “desirable and deserving” issues, such as misogyny or when no offence has been committed.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “At this early stage, officers are working to establish the circumstances – no arrests have been made.”
THIS week, 15-year-old Jai Sewell was horrifically stabbed to death near his home in South East London.
A “sweet boy” with so much to live for, he joins the long list of victims of violent crime.
Last night, a 17-year-old lad became the 249th teenager to die as a result of knife crime in the UK so far this year.
In the 12 months to June, 69,000 children aged 10 to 15 were stabbed or suffered a violent injury. More than 100 people have been killed on the streets of London alone.
These figures should shame the nation. We are allowing a generation to grow up in an environment where violence is the norm.
It is disgraceful that in the face of this torrent of crime, there was no extra money for neighbourhood policing in this week’s Budget.
If we want to keep our streets safe, then we need more police to patrol them.
Money to support young people and help steer them away from gangs has also been cut.
Jai’s death must not be just another grim statistic. It should become a call for action.