Seydou Diarrassouba murder linked to riots, Muslims and gangs
SEYDOU Diarrassouba, 18, was stabbed to death on Oxford Street before the Boxing Day shoppers. Oxford Street. Diarrassouba was on a shopping trip from his home in Mitcham, South London. He was stabbed in the heart.
So far, 11 people are helping police with their enquiries in connection with the murder of Seydou Diarrassouba. They are all young: five 19-year-olds, three 17-year-olds, two 22-year-olds and one 16-year-old. They have all been arrested.
Munawar Shaikh, 20, was a friend of Seydou Diarrassouba. He tells the the PA:
“I heard about it on social network sites. It’s devastating, I had lost contact with Seydou but he was such a big personality and a person everyone in Mitcham would know. I cannot say if it was a gang thing, it seems more like it was just a misunderstanding between youths. He was just a good kid who always had a smile on his face. I have not had a chance to go out yet but I imagine everybody will be cut up about it.”
Mr Diarrassouba was stabbed to death inside or outside the Foot Locker store. A post-mortem examination was taking place at Westminster Mortuary today to establish the cause of Mr Diarrassouba’s death.
As for the other facts:
Mr Diarrassouba was killed at about 1.45pm yesterday, and shortly after 6pm a second stabbing took place, also on Oxford Street, a few hundred yards from Oxford Circus Underground station. A 21-year-old man was left with non-fatal leg wounds. Three males have been arrested. Police are not saying whether the two stabbings were linked.
We do not know why Mr Diarrassouba was stabbed nor precisely where. But the Daily Mail claims to know:
Bargain hunters looked on in horror as the 18-year-old was stabbed in a branch of Foot Locker on Oxford Street in central London. Witnesses said the teenager was amongst a group of black youths, thought to be rival gangs, fighting over the trainers.
The Mail then adds this piece of utter nonsense:
Videos posted on the internet showed that as paramedics treated him other youths pushed and shoved police in scenes reminiscent of the summer riots.
And then this gem:
One said the killer said ‘Wallah’, an Arabic slang term for ‘I swear to God’, before plunging the knife into his victim.
Having made it a riot and a Muslim crime, the Mail now makes it a gang crime:
The victim is also thought to be known by the street name ‘Nutz’.
Not nickname. Street name. And:
One witness said the killing might be linked to an attack in which a 22-year-old man was shot twice in the chest five days ago. That victim continues to fight for his life in hospital after the attack on the Mozart Estate, in Queen’s Park, North West London.
The Sun sticks with the theme of gangs:
One witness told how a feral gang shoved parents and children aside as they chased down the terrified victim before murdering him in broad daylight…And the witness — a woman shopping with her husband and baby daughter — said: “I hope that one day I will forget his eyes and the monsters who were chasing him.”
The Sun even speculates of what trainers the gangs might have been rowing over:
There were claims that two rival gangs from South London had argued over which designer trainers they aimed to steal from a branch of Foot Locker. The murder follows violent struggles in the US between shoppers battling to buy pairs of Nike’s new Air Jordan basketball-style trainers, though the limited edition shoes are not thought to be available here yet.
Not “thought to be available” in the UK yet?
You wants investigative journalism?
The shoes are the Air Jordan 11 Retro Concords. They are available in the UK. They sold out at most stores last week.
It’s pretty unlikely, then, that the murderous shoe fans didn’t know that.
Note: The above photos are all of the victim. Each was the lead photo in the Mail, BBC and Times. Which news source led with which image?
Posted: 27th, December 2011 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
