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Somali youth worker Duran Farah fears for young people in the borough |
Murder haunts community
Lessons have not been learned after brutal killing of teen,
says youth worker
THE shadow of the killing of 18-year-old Mahir Osman by members of a group of 40 youths who rampaged down Camden High Street hangs heavy over families, a community, and government agencies who failed them, according to Duran Farah, the borough’s most prominent worker with Somali youth.
As the eight north London men convicted of taking part in last January’s outrage begin what are likely to be lengthy appeals against their verdicts and life sentences, Mr Farah, who knows the Somali parents of both the victim and his killers, said the only way to avoid the devastation that has visited both families was to face up to the personal and institutional failures that leave young men alienated and on the street.
He said: “I don’t condone anything that was done. This was a horrible thing to happen to any young person with his life ahead of him, and by sentencing (the three men convicted of murder, who cannot be named for legal reasons) to long imprisonment, another three lives are being wasted in prison.
“But I do not believe this was a gang matter – it is more complex than that. These were young people who were neglected by the system, who come together for security because they are facing the same issues: they left school without any qualifications, and had no proper access to education or training. These young men did not have any kind of a future and that is why they were vulnerable to the criminal world.”
Based on his experience of running the Alhijra Somali Community Association and the Somali Youth Development Centre, Mr Farah said the troubled history of Somalia’s civil war, which left professionals and political figures fleeing to the UK in search of asylum, is only part of the explanation for the alienation of some Somali youth.
He said: “Unemployment in our community is the highest of any group. School exclusions are high, and programmes to take people on are too few.
“You need to take these young men off the street, but if you feel that nobody cares about you, why bother, at school or elsewhere?
“There needs to be access to education and training programmes that will lead to the feeling that they are welcome and part of society: the needs of individuals need to be addressed.
“The parents of these men do not believe that their sons have ever committed any crimes. Some of them are in denial, but they are parents, and that is understandable.
“What I think we can say is that the local authority and the government are more in denial: these things can be stopped.”Somali youth worker Duran Farah fears for young people in the borough
Members of ‘murderous mob’ in appeal
EIGHT convicted members of a ‘murderous mob’ who marched through Camden Town to attack and kill a gang rival have appealed against their verdicts and sentences, writes David St George.
Three of the group have already begun life terms for murder after a lengthy Old Bailey trial.
Somali student Mahir Osman (pictured), 18, was attacked and killed in front of hundreds of shocked bystanders after a 40-strong, heavily armed group descended on a bus stop in Camden High Street on a Saturday night in January last year.
His murder was captured by more than 20 CCTV cameras.
Judge Stephen Kramer QC, who passed sentencing on the men, all aged between 16 and 25, said: “This attack is an example of gang culture all too prevalent in the streets.”
Witnesses had heard the gang scream “kill him, stab him through the heart”.
Two 20-year-olds and one 17 year-old were sentenced to life for murder, while five others were sentenced to five years for conspiracy to cause serious harm, possess weapons and violent disorder. An eighth man was jailed for four years for plotting to carry weapons and violent disorder.
Their lawyers will go to the High Court to argue against findings and sentences, they said on Friday. |
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