The residents of a London block of flats where a man was killed on Sunday have spoken of their fear of violent crime.
A 13-year-old boy was charged by police over the killing of Christopher John Barry, 53, while four other boys aged 13 and 14 have been released on bail. The boy has been remanded in custody to appear at Highbury Corner youth court on Tuesday charged with murder, Scotland Yard said.
Barry was trying to enter the Brickland Court flats in Edmonton on Sunday evening when he got involved in an argument with a group of teenagers.
Police said a supervised party was under way in the building, and the boys were trying to gain access. Barry, who was accompanied by a woman believed to be his girlfriend, entered the building but was followed by two boys and stabbed.
“The victim and this group were not known to each other – what started as a minor verbal altercation has escalated into a shocking act of violence,” said the lead investigator, DCI Neale Baldock of the Metropolitan police homicide and major crime command.
Police were called to the flats by the London ambulance service just before 8pm, but Barry was pronounced dead at the scene little more than half an hour later.
A postmortem examination on Monday gave the cause of death as a stab wound to the chest.
On Tuesdaya neighbour described comforting Barry’s girlfriend immediately after the attack, which left the area outside her flat covered in blood.
“We heard noises and we came out and there was blood all over the first floor,” said Petronella Muzengi. “She came into our flat and said: ‘They’ve killed him, they’ve killed my boyfriend.’
“We tried to calm her down but she was in a terrible state. It was terrible, I was trying to comfort her but I was very scared.”
Muzengi, 50, has lived in the housing association block since it was built seven years ago and it was the first time she had seen such violence at first hand. “These little boys, they are just children.”
Edmonton is trying to crack down on violent crime: Sunday’s killing was the third in 16 days.
In separate incidents on 30 November, Khiry Ford, 23, was fatally stabbed in the chest by a hooded attacker during a street fight, while pPolish national Maciej Godlewski, 52, died after suffering head injuries during a fight.
Brickland resident Dolly Mbaya, 32, said he was planning self-defence classes for his 10-year-old son.
“I’m scared for my own life and I’m scared for my son,” he said. “If I had been coming through the door at the same time, I know I would have been involved too.”
He said it was not uncommon for young people to carry weapons. “I grew up in that sort of environment but I would never have carried a knife, people who did were 20-25. Now they are kids. Whether it’s for protection or because they want to be gangsters.”
Resident Loretta Gabriel, 50, said she had cancelled a party for her 16-year-old daughter’s birthday. “She is very, very scared – we all are,” she said.
She said difficult economic times were contributing to youth violence.
“We are living here with this, but the government don’t care about the poorer class. There is more poverty, more stress and we old people know how to cope with that but young ones don’t.”
