Reading Time: 4 minutes

Christopher Kapessa

Only 4 Welsh MPs have put their name to a UK parliamentary motion which declares solidarity with the family of Christopher Kapessa, the Black teen from Mountain Ash who in 2019, surrounded by 14 of his white peers, drowned after being pushed into a river. 

The Early Day Motion (EDM) was put forward by Cynon Valley Labour MP Beth Winter, who represents the constituency where Christopher was killed. 

The motion expresses concerns over the South Wales Police investigation into the death and also “alarm at the Crown Prosecution Service decision that it was not in the public interest to seek a prosecution despite their own admission that sufficient evidence did exist to bring a charge of manslaughter.” 

It also “acknowledges the family’s assertion that the case has been marred by institutional racism” and demands justice.  The statement was put forward in February as part of the family’s campaign for justice and is supported by Christopher’s mother Alina Joseph. But despite this, Beth Winter is the only Welsh Labour MP out of 22 to back it. 

All 3 Plaid Cymru MPs have signed the motion whilst none of the Conservatives’ 14 parliamentary representatives in Wales have put their name to it. In total, 24 MPs have signed the motion, the majority of which are Labour MPs in England, including Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Dianne Abbot and Zarah Sultana. Many Welsh Labour MPs have front bench roles, and are advised against signing EDMs, but as they are not government ministers, they can make exceptions in certain cases. 

On Thursday, the case will go to the high court where family lawyers will ask for a judicial review of the CPS decision not to prosecute anyone over Christopher’s death. 

Mounting public pressure, including from MPs, could help the family get the result they are looking for.  The Justice for Christopher Kapessa campaign was re-launched in February with an online meeting which Beth Winter addressed. The campaign has the support of anti-racism groups and also the Wales TUC. 

Last night, Ms Joseph told a BBC Wales documentary: “As a mother you don’t stop parenting once they’ve died…Christopher’s not allowing me to sit down there and just give up”.

Christopher was surrounded by 14 of his white peers when he drowned in the River Cynon near Mountain Ash in July 2019. But South Wales Police only interviewed 4 people who were there, failed to gather key evidence or secure the crime scene and declared his death a ‘tragic accident’ within 48 hours. 

Outrage from the family and their supporters led to a second investigation, after which the CPS effectively dropped the case. Even though there was sufficient evidence to support a manslaughter charge, the body ruled that the lead suspect had a good school record and it was therefore not in the public interest to pursue the case.

A year ago, Christopher’s mother Alina Joseph said that South Wales cops have “failed me and they continue to fail Black families.” 

Speaking earlier this year, she said that the impact of Christopher’s death on the family has been “devastating.” “We won’t be able to see Christopher finish his GCSEs, graduate, have a career, marry, become a father. Just the normal things that we as human beings value” she said. “Every time I hear the word Christopher my heart breaks. I’ve lost the future. We’ve lost the future.”

She has pleaded for people to support the campaign to get justice for her son to “prevent a similar situation happening to another Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic family.”

Previously MS Joseph has said that she had to fight to “establish the truth against the disbelief and the culture of institutional racism of South Wales Police” and that the approach of the police and the CPS would have been different, “if it was a white child who drowned while surrounded by 14 black youth” 

One year after the Black Lives Matter movement swept Wales, this is not the only case relating to institutional racism and the police in Wales. 

South Wales Police are also under heavy fire over the death of Mohamud Hassan, the 24 year Black man from Cardiff who died in January after being held overnight in Cardiff Bay Police Station and returning home with injuries and blood stains on his clothes. Despite telling multiple witnesses that he had been physically assaulted by police hours before he died, his death has been greeted with a similar public silence by the majority of politicians in Wales. 

Similarly, another young Black man, Mouayed Bashir, died in Newport after being forcefully restrained by Gwent Police in February. Again, the death and campaign for justice has received very little attention from the Welsh Parliament or Welsh MPs in the UK Parliament. 

Another Welsh Police force, Dyfed Powys Police, are also facing fierce criticism over the arrest and sentencing of a young Black woman, Siyanda Mngaza, who says she was racially and violently attacked on a camping trip by a group of white people. Dyfed Powys Police admitted in court that they did not investigate the racial motive, and the young woman is currently serving a four and a half year prison sentence. 

To donate to the Justice For Christopher Kapessa campaign, see the EDM and watch the online meeting and for more information please see the campaign’s website:https://linktr.ee/JusticeForChristopherKapessa