Photo courtesy of the Guardian
The London Royal Courts of Justice has reopened a case involving a 13-year-old Black boy who drowned after being pushed into a river.
According to Voice. Wales, the lower court ruled the teen’s death as an accident. However, his family believed race played a factor in his killing and how the case was investigated.
Christopher Kapessa drowned after he was pushed into the River Cynon near Mountain Ash in South Wales in July 2019. Two days after the incident, the South Wales Police concluded that his death was a “tragic accident.”
However, it was later revealed that investigators failed to investigate Kapessa’s death by securing the scene, interviewing all witnesses present, and ignoring key text messages regarding the young people involved, the Voice. Wales reported. The authorities only questioned four out of the 14-16 eyewitnesses at the scene.
Since then, the 13-year-old’s death has made headlines, fueling public outrage as they called for the Crown Prosecution Service to step in and review the case.
Though the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identified a suspect with evidence of manslaughter, the United Kingdom-based agency failed to prosecute the person of interest, leading to no charges in the teen’s death.
The agency’s investigation concluded that a 14-year-old pushed Kapessa into the river. They decided not to move forward with the case because the teen was viewed as a good student, and it wouldn’t be “in the public’s interest” to prosecute after the incident was deemed a “foolish prank.”
Kapessa’s mother, Alina Joseph, said she “does not want revenge, but for the facts of her son’s case to be heard in court.”
Despite CPS’ ruling, Joseph said the agency’s response would have been different “if it was a white child who drowned while surrounded by 14 black youth.”
In June 2021, the teen’s family scored a significant victory after the High Court granted a motion to challenge the CPS’ decision.
On Thursday, Jan. 13, Joseph’s lawyers told two judges of the Royal Court that the CPS’ ruling was “unreasonable or irrational,” Peeblesshire News reported.
“The defendant’s decision fails to properly value human life, specifically the child victim’s life,” attorney Michael Mansfield said to Lord Justice Popplewell and Mr. Justice Dove in filing to the court.
“The defendant fails to give proper regard to the seriousness of harm from the offense,” he added. “Undue and improper weight has been given to the impact of a prosecution upon the future of the offender.”
Mansfield said the decision threatens the judicial system, prompting the community to question its effectiveness.
The court presented key facts that investigators discovered during the probe. One crucial piece of evidence indicated that Kapessa revealed that he couldn’t swim to the group. However, the suspect dismissed his statement and “deliberately” pushed him into the water.
“Christopher drowned and was killed as a result,” Mansfield exclaimed.
He stated that the “suspect,” whose identity is not revealed to the public, is now 17.
“One factor — the youth of the offender — has been given too much weight here,” the lawyer pushed.
“The suspect in this matter is aged 17 presently, but that does not preclude the public interest in accountability for causing a death by unlawful act manslaughter,” he argued. “It would not be ‘disproportionate’ to prosecute a child or young person for the manslaughter he has committed. The youth of the offender is a factor that a criminal court itself may properly take into account when imposing punishment.”
Joseph received hand-written letters from witnesses who denounced claims that Kapessa slipped and fell into the river despite the investigator’s previous findings.
Mansfield told the judges, “This sets out the history of misinformation to her from the investigating prosecutorial authorities since her son’s death and concerning the events: the original source of being told her son had jumped, or had slipped, rather than being pushed appearing to have emanated from the suspect and the untruths spread by him and his immediate friends, including the lies told to the police.”
Kapessa’s untimely death sparked global outrage from the Black Lives Matter community as thousands protested and signed petitions to bring justice to the teen. A petition on change.org received over 110,000 signatures.
Shavanah Taj, secretary for the Wales Trade Union Congress (TUC), supported the “Justice for Christopher Kapessa” campaign and appeared with the family at the Jan. 13 hearing.
The teen’s uncle, Mak King, made remarks regarding his nephew during a vigil, BBC reported.
“Today is a day of memory. The family are so anxious for justice. It has been a very long time — two-and-a-half years — a very long time. The family is waiting for answers and fighting for justice,” he said.
“It’s very, very hard to be honest with you. Every time the name Christopher Kapessa comes up, everything gets back again,” he continued. “So hopefully today we’ll get answers for our questions so we can tell the family — family here, family back home — and they’ll know the reason why and how Christopher died.”