An almost four-year investigation into the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy on Walthamstow’s streets may finally be nearing its end Kacem Mokrane died in […]By Waltham Forest Echo

An almost four-year investigation into the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy on Walthamstow’s streets may finally be nearing its end

Kacem Mokrane died in November 2017, at the age of 18, after he was stabbed on Mount Pleasant Road.

Kacem, who died from his injuries four days later, was one of the first of a string of six young men to lose their life to the borough’s violence in a year and a half.

On 16th September, more than three years after the last update from police, seven men were finally charged with his death.

Ranging in age from 40 to just 19 years old, the group includes three men from Waltham Forest and others from east, south and north London, as well as one man from Essex.

Waltham Forest resident Kamil Kazmierski, 21, was arrested and taken to a police station, while 23-year-old Hamza Ul-Haq and 19-year-old Luca Griffths, also from the borough, were charged via post.

Also arrested that day were Abdirisak Ali, 24, from Newham; Christopher Wilson, 20, from Greenwich; Shadab Abdul-Karim, 23, from Islington; and 40-year-old Richard Billington, from Essex.

Kacem’s death came half a year after 17-year-old Elijah Dornelly was murdered by two teenagers in Walthamstow High Street and four months before Joseph Williams-Torres, 20, was shot dead by members of the borough’s Mali Boys gang in a case of mistaken identity.

Speaking in the House of Commons in January 2019, after the tragic death of 14-year-old Jaden Moodie, Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy named Kacem as one of “six children buried in our community” over the preceding 18 months.

She said: “Each of their families, like Jaden’s family, is grieving for the life they have lost. They are now asking for our help so that no other family will go through this horror.

“They need a government who joins the dots and recognizes that too many of our young people are struggling in education, are vulnerable to exploitation and are therefore vulnerable to such challenges.

“We must ensure that young people receive alternative provision and that we see those young people as worthy of fighting for.

“Please, I do not want another child in our community to be buried because of knife crime ever again. It is preventable, and if we work together, we can stop it.”

All five men arrested on 16th September appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court that same day and are currently being held in custody.

They are due to appear at the Old Bailey on 3rd December but have yet to enter a plea.

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