Mum says family was racially abused before son was 'pushed in river' and drowned
The mum of a teenage boy who drowned in a river while playing with friends has spoken of the racial abuse her family suffered before his death, an inquest heard.
Christopher Kapessa, 13, died after allegedly being pushed into the River Cynon near Fernhill in Rhondda Cynon Taff in July 2019. Another boy, then aged 14, was seen pushing Christopher from a ledge into the water, South Wales Central Coroner's Court in Pontypridd heard. Non-swimmer Christopher immediately got into difficulty and could not be saved.
His mother, Alina Joseph, told a hearing she and her seven children had moved to South Wales from London in 2011 and settled in Hirwaun where her family suffered racist abuse. She said in a written statement: “While living in Hirwaun the children especially experienced so much negative and horrific treatment from other members of the community and at times we all felt very isolated because of such treatments.
"Nevertheless, it was very difficult because the children wanted to play outside of the house and most of the time it ended up bad for my children. At the same time, we were receiving racial hate letters through the post, and stuff written on the outside walls which was racist. We contacted the police and a couple of them turned up and made Glody (another of her sons) go through being interviewed on camera. In the end, we were told there was not enough evidence to charge the boy who beat him.
Alina Joseph told of her family's experience of racism (Alina Joseph)"When all the above was taking place, the boy started damaging the property. The police turned up and again said there is nothing they can do."
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Ms Joseph said another of her sons, Daniel, was also involved in an incident in which he was allegedly driven at by a motorist. In another alleged incident, a boy urinated on Christopher and his younger sister.
She added: "Another incident reported to the police was whereby a mother physically dragged Christopher by the neck from one part of the road to our house to tell me Christopher and her son were playing a game that involved throwing stones at each other and her boys sustained a bump. People in the street saw what she was also doing and no-one said anything. We started arguing and she turned around and started threatening me and then my house would soon be on the ground.
"The family ceased to make complaints to the police regarding their experience with racist abuse because they were dissatisfied with their response on every prior occasion."
Ms Joseph also claimed Christopher was racially abused at secondary school by another child who was excluded for a day, adding: “I brought my kids up not to allow things like this to get to them. They didn't really communicate how they felt about their experience in Hirwaun. As they got older, I started noticing them defending themselves as the attacks continued. We had all sorts going on while living in Hirwaun. Nothing within the family as such but just problems in the community."
One teenager told the inquest he saw another boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, push Christopher into the water with his hands. The 17-year-old told proceedings: “I had a clear view of what happened, everybody for a few seconds didn't know if he could swim or not and there wasn't a panic, and when people realised he couldn't swim people jumped in to try and help him. I think he was flailing and trying to keep himself above the water."
The hearing continues.
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