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Schoolboy stabbed to death
29/11/2000 18:05 - (SA)
London - Britain is shocked by the murder of a 10-year-old boy in south London.
Nigerian-born Damilola Taylor, 10, was found with a severe leg wound at about 5pm on Monday on a stairwell at the North Peckham Estate. He bled to death.
Police say they are looking for three black youths, between 11 and 14, who were seen running away from the murder scene. They wore dark hooded tops.
Damilola was on his way home from a computer club at the local Oliver Goldsmith Primary School and was wearing his school uniform when he was killed.
'Circle of Acquiescence'
"All of us are profoundly shocked by what we have learned about this killing and send out our deepest condolences to the family and the friends and indeed the whole area," Home Secretary Jack Straw told BBC.
He spoke ahead of a speech in which he will attack the "circle of acquiescence" which leads people to tolerate crime.
"We need to create a responsible society where each of us takes responsibility, not only for our own actions, but also for the way society and our immediate community behave," he said.
Education Secretary David Blunkett reiterated Straw's call for communal responsibility and he criticised passers-by who failed to help Damilola as he lay dying.
He said: "We have got to create a society where people do not run away from anything, but face up to it and are prepared to be engaged and involved."
Scene of Damilola's Death
Officers conducted a fingertip search of the murder site and made house-to-house inquiries on Tuesday night.
His family visited the scene of his murder that same night.
Damilola arrived in the UK earlier this year and his older brother, Babatunde Taylor, said: "I just hope and pray they get the killers. It won't bring him back, but I want them brought to justice."
A post mortem examination established the cause of death as a stab wound to the left leg which severed a major artery.
As a result, the investigation was upgraded to a full murder inquiry.
Bullied at School
The boy's mother, Gloria Taylor, said he had been bullied at school and that she had raised her concerns with teachers.
But Mark Parsons, headmaster at the boy's school, said he did not believe bullying resulted in murder.
He told the BBC: "I am totally convinced it is something outside the school. The allegations of bullying related to name calling and slight scuffles. It was not the type of bullying that would lead to this type of violence."
Police believe that Damilola may have been involved in a scuffle in a road near where he died at about 4.45pm on Monday.
The incident happened at a derelict end of the estate, much of which is currently being demolished.
Extra police have been put on patrol in the area and pupils at the school are being interviewed. His classmates have been offered counselling. - BBC
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