Man stabbed on Silverdale last Sunday

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sean
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Joined: 1 Aug 2007 18:26
Location: Sydenham

Man stabbed on Silverdale last Sunday

Post by sean »

THE mum of a teenager left with a punctured lung and liver after being stabbed has spoken of her horror.

Julie Little’s 19-year-old son was attacked as he walked alone down Silverdale in Sydenham on the evening of Sunday, June 28.

He was set upon by three men and left for dead.

Julie, 44, told the South London Press: “He remembers they didn’t say anything to him, they just went for his pockets and when he tried to run off they jumped him.

“Luckily his friend was nearby and he got to him. “He definitely saved his life by putting pressure on the wound before an ambulance came.

“I got a call at 9am the next morning saying he’d been stabbed and was critical in King’s College Hospital.

“I was absolutely horrified. It was so hard to think I didn’t know for 12 hours – he could have died without me.”

Julie said her son – whose name we have agreed to withhold – was on the mend and feeling “angry and confused” but was hoping to be out of hospital by the end of this week.

Julie also has two daughters, aged 13 and 24, and says Sunday’s attack saw her fears come true.

She said: “I do worry about my kids and it’s difficult – you want them to have their freedom but how much do you hold their hand?

“People have to come forward to the police and put a stop to it.

“There’s probably people out there who know what’s going on.

“It’s not the done thing to go to the police because people don’t want to get involved, but you have to.”

Julie’s son was stabbed at around 10pm on Sunday evening.

- Anyone with information should call Lewisham CID on 020 8284 8313 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Source: http://www.southlondon-today.co.uk/tn/N ... b%20horror
Ronski
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Post by Ronski »

Very disturbing reading, I hope they catch them.
paultreacy
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Location: Lawrie Park Road

Post by paultreacy »

This is frightening. My wife, two youngsters and I have only been in the area a year having previously lived in Camberwell, SE5. We rent at the moment and are unsure about buying in the area for a variety of reasons. Knife crime is a major reason. I'm not sure I want my sons to be teenagers here, quite frankly.

We grown ups really need to find a way to engage young people. Lets give them the right to vote at 16 or even 12. Let's try and involve them more in society. There is such a talent pool of clever, forward thinking youngsters that are just neglected and ignored during their most formative years. It frustrates me and annoys me. It's something I think about a lot. It's something I want to do something about and will in some small way.

That young man should have been left well alone and those thugs should have been engaged in something useful. Something positive. It's a dreadful reflection on our society and we should all take some responsibility. What's to be done? These young attackers, these predators I'm sure have much to offer if only there was some facility whereby we could engage their youthful energy and exuberance and harness it for positive, collective benefit.

Infuriating.
Juwlz
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Post by Juwlz »

Well, in my part of Sydenham the youth club has been closed down due to the lack of £30,000 needed to fix the building they use.

If kids have nothing to do they get drawn into crime. It makes me really angry that the council don't prioritise these youth clubs. Never mind £10,000 towards a £50,000 mural, lets see the money spent on this youth club building instead.
leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

What has happened is terrible.

But it doesn't just happen here.

Look on the forums for Forest Hill, East Dulwich, Crystal Palace, there are similar stories. When I lived in North London there were similar tales. Where I worked in Marylebone one of our staff was physically assaulted by youths on the front door step. Another time I gave chase, along with about 4 other guys, to a purse snatcher down Marylebone high street. In Hampstead I saw a gang of kids smashing a Saab to bits with baseball bats. In Brockley there were drive by shootings, I saw a couple of gang fights including a guy being hit by a wheel brace, in Camden I saw a load of police surrounding a guy with a knife (a few minutes after I saw two guys kicking the hell out of another guy near a bus stop on a busy Saturday afternoon).

Don't live in fear (or after reading the above, steer clear of anywhere I may be!). It would be a shame if we (Sydenham) lost potential residents like Paul due to stories like this. These are our streets, not the thugs streets.
bensonby
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Post by bensonby »

Juwlz wrote:Well, in my part of Sydenham the youth club has been closed down due to the lack of £30,000 needed to fix the building they use.

If kids have nothing to do they get drawn into crime. It makes me really angry that the council don't prioritise these youth clubs. Never mind £10,000 towards a £50,000 mural, lets see the money spent on this youth club building instead.
"lack of things to do" is not an excuse to commit crime is it? I never went to "youth clubs" et cetera.....and I never commited violent crime.

There is a danger in society that we may be tempted to blame our youth - that is alienating and perverse - what we should do is blame, and target, vicious little thugs..........
Juwlz
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Post by Juwlz »

I'm not saying its an excuse, why would I? But surely it follows that if kids have something (non-criminal) to do they are less likely to be drawn into crime and so perhaps there's less chance they'll go around stabbing people at some stage? What's wrong with saying that?

What are you saying bensonby?– that it's fine to shut the youth clubs for lack of relatively small amounts of money? That people are just inherently evil and so there's no point in trying to prevent stuff happening?

Surely prevention is better than cure???
mosy
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Post by mosy »

leenewham wrote:What has happened is terrible.

But it doesn't just happen here.

Look on the forums for Forest Hill, East Dulwich, Crystal Palace, there are similar stories. ...
This is not a "story", Lee, it's a potential life. My son of similar age arrived home just after the road had been taped off. My heart goes out to the mother.

Edit: Should have said and her son, of course. Mine has been mugged several times, but luckily not as seriously as that, well yet.
Bram
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Post by Bram »

Bensonby

you
never went to "youth clubs" et cetera.....and ... never commited violent crime.
So, tell us, what were you doing during your youth?
Eagle
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Post by Eagle »

Terrible incident.
I am not sure that giving them the vote will turn them into model citizens.

How have we got here. Liberal do gooders. In the very unlikely event these people are caught what will happen. 2 years or so for nearly killing somebody is a complete joke. These people had every intention of leaving the victim for dead and they deserve real life.
Barty
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Post by Barty »

Bram wrote:Bensonby

you
never went to "youth clubs" et cetera.....and ... never commited violent crime.
So, tell us, what were you doing during your youth?
minding his own business? :D :D

Sorry, I couldn't help myself!!! I'm getting way too sarcastic in my old age... :wink:

And it is old age, Paddy Pantsdown is convinced I don't have long left in this world :lol: :lol: :lol:
Paddy Pantsdown
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Post by Paddy Pantsdown »

Eagle wrote:In the very unlikely event these people are caught what will happen. 2 years or so for nearly killing somebody is a complete joke.
Met Police detection rates for 2006/7 (last I could find)
Murder: 137 out of 162
GBH: 1622 out of 5102

Killing someone is not a good career move. GBH is about 30% so if you do it serially you are very likely to get caught.

I don't have the sentencing stats. However I thought the consensus was that the threat of detection is more powerful than the possible sentence. Telling people they are unlikely to get caught when they are might suggest you might share some of the blame for the result.

You might consider that real 'life' for these youngsters is 50 years @ (say) £50k a year is £2.5m. Whereas most young thugs do grow out of it and may contribute to the state rather than cost it dearly. While we probably share the same view of them as young thugs, should we not examine the costs of revenge against spending that money on better things - like saving lives by increasing the NHS prescription budget or even keeping Youth Clubs open?

Is this not an area where surely the head should rule the heart? It is not only 'liberals' who indulge in woolly thinking on crime.

PP (good to see you are still with us Barty)
oin
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Post by oin »

That's a great post Paddy. I have the utmost respect for the refreshingly reasoned debate. (Sometimes it can get a little reactionary on here for my tastes.)
leenewham
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Post by leenewham »

Totally agree!
noangel
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Post by noangel »

So sad :( I can't imagine how it's affecting that poor family.

I have to walk down Silverdale to get home and it's not a nice area at night. I always make sure I carry my keys not only as a potential weapon but so I can gain quick access to my flat. Plus I change into my flats so I can run if need be. There have been a couple of occasion where I have felt unsafe but fortunately because I rely on the train to get home there is always someone else about. So I try to catch up with them but then they speed up because they think they're been followed :lol:

Even in the day time I've been followed and/or had inappropriate comments made to me by strange men. But during the day I feel more confident to deal with the situation. Then there are the undesirables in Mayow Park, drinking and doing God knows what in the middle of the night.

I did try to move to a nicer part of town but I got out bid on the offer.
Ulysses
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Post by Ulysses »

I do really, really hope the victim is OK and that justice is served in this matter.

I shouldn't fret overly much paultreacy and noangel. I certainly have always felt safer in Sydenham than I do when in more 'celebrated' postcodes and I am frankly struggling to think on one part of London, N/S/E or W that isn't blighted by some chronic youth problem or another. So good luck finding somewhere that doesn't have a gang problem or sink-estate close by. I think you'll have a long and ultimately fruitless search for this 'nicer part of town' noangel. Perhaps you should be looking at nicer streets?

I've been here in Sydenham quite a long time now and love it. Frankly, I like it so much I've bought another home here. So I have a home in Lower and Upper Sydenham [there's no such thing as mid-Sydenham for anyone who is trying to tell themselves differently] - how's that for balance on the old Upper V Lower debate that seems to always crop up!

Anyway, at various times, after people have stared at me blankly and shook their head when I tell them where I live, I've described it as hilly or leafy or green or quiet or lots of open spaces or gone on about how I'm not overlooked or the fast links to L.Bridge or whatever...

What I should be telling them [and this is the laboured point I'm trying to make] is that it is schizophrenic.

Whereas rough areas like Penge or Catford have the odd pleasant area and pleasant areas like Dulwich Village or Blackheath have the odd rough area it's pretty much an even-ish split here.

I'm not going to offend anyone and list the offending streets but for every quiet, well-heeled and privately owned street here there's another that is unfortunately a bit of a no-go area. These are the ones that often have the Police helicopter hovering over them. And before Parker starts banging on about not having them in L.B. of Bromley or in Beckenham I can assure him/her I see this hovering over Penge/Beckenham North and New Beckenham often enough. I can just about see these areas from the lofty perch I have - you'll no doubt think that the Elysian Fields of Bromley itself won't have any problems but once again, you'd be wrong.

Anyhoo, it's rambling, as ever from me. Sorry for that. I just think no-one should think that Sydenham is any better or worse than other parts of town. I am often in places like Fulham, Wandsworth, Clapham, Islington and Highgate visting firends and I can tell you that there are huge parts of these areas you wouldn't feel safe in even during the day!

Funnily enough I've felt most safe in Hackney when visting friends... go figure.
bensonby
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Post by bensonby »

Bram wrote:Bensonby

you
never went to "youth clubs" et cetera.....and ... never commited violent crime.
So, tell us, what were you doing during your youth?

Played chess, visited our (free) museums and hung about in friends' houses.

But that's not the point. The point is that there are lots of teenagers with "not much to do" and who don't go around stabbing people or causing trouble.
bensonby
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Post by bensonby »

I also find it perverse that some people seem to think we live in some kind of lawless danger zone. The chances of being stabbed/murdered are a lot lower than one might think.
mosy
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Post by mosy »

Unless one happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But granted that could be anywhere. What I don't understand is that if someone wants to rob you, then "Gimme your money!" (whatever) when there are three of them against one would do it, so why seriously injure people? The victim will only have what they have.

Sorry that I'm sidestepping what should be done to prevent this mentality as just don't understand why robbers need to use serious violence.
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