Threats to stabbed girl 'ignored'

Threats to stabbed girl 'ignored'

The mother of a schoolgirl stabbed to death by an obsessive ex-boyfriend has said police ignored his threats.

Arsema had returned from school when she was attacked

Arsema Dawit, 15, was stabbed more than 30 times in a lift at the flats where she lived in Waterloo, central London.

Defendant Thomas Nugusse, 22, could not be tried because he suffered brain damage in a suicide attempt in prison.

Arsema's mother Tsehaynesh Medhane said police ignored her warnings that Nugusse was a danger to her daughter. The police watchdog is investigating.

“ It would have been better if the murderer had taken all our lives not just Arsema's ”
Tsehaynesh Medhane

Mrs Medhane said she awaited the outcome of an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation and added: "I believe Arsema's life could have been saved if the police had taken action when I approached them."

She also said: "My body is alive but my spirit is dead and I feel with her death I died too.

"It would have been better if the murderer had taken all our lives not just Arsema's as we have not been able to live our lives since that terrible day."

IPCC commissioner Rachel Cerfontyne said: "IPCC investigators will now examine the circumstances surrounding the police contact with Arsema between 30 April and 2 June 2008.

Unfit to plead

"In particular we will look at how the police responded to an initial report made by Arsema at Kennington police station on 30 April of assault and threats to kill, and the subsequent investigation by officers from a neighbouring borough."

As a result of Nugusse's injuries, an Old Bailey jury was asked only to decide if he was responsible for the killing on 2 June last year.

Nugusse, of Ilford, east London, was sent to a mental hospital without limit of time.

He was initially charged with murder but because of the brain damage he suffered it was decided that he was unfit to plead.

Consequently the jury was not allowed to return conventional innocent or guilty verdicts and instead found that Nugusse had "committed the acts".

Nugusse and Arsema had been in a relationship for two years but his behaviour became too much for her and she ended it.

On 16 April 2008 he punched her at a McDonald's restaurant in Walworth, south-east London, blackening her eye, after she said hello to a male friend.

Mrs Medhane made a statement in which she said Nugusse had called threatening Arsema and said he would find her and kill her.

She went with her daughter to Kennington police station and asked officers to arrest him.

Philip King QC, defending, told the jury at the Old Bailey that Nugusse was unlikely ever to be able to live an independent life.

The court heard shortly after Arsema was killed, Nugusse made a 999 call in which he admitted having stabbed her.

While on remand he tried to hang himself, causing his severe brain injuries.

The jury had been shown CCTV footage of Nugusse following Arsema towards her home and also heard a tape of the 999 call in which Nugusse confessed to the killing.

Outside the court, Det Insp Clive Heyes of the Metropolitan Police said: "It is a tragic set of circumstances and a horrible crime."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/london/8059336.stm

Published: 2009/05/20 14:09:34 GMT

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