Hundreds hold vigil at tube station where teenager was murdered trying to stop a fight

BY JAMES TWOMEY
james@slpmedia.co.uk

Friends and family of a murdered teenager staged a vigil in his memory on the anniversary of his death.

A foundation to support education for inner city families has already been set up to remember Malcolm Mide-Madariola, from Peckham, who was stabbed outside Clapham South Tube station on November 2 last year.

Hundreds of supporters were outside the station on Saturday evening at the spot where he died, and released white balloons to remember a boy who died trying to stop a fight.

His father, Olumide, tweeted after the vigil: “#Malcolm’s friends that came to honour him – you are a pride. You used your resources to be present and stayed the night to bring smiles. #Malcolm will be smiling right now. Bless you all.”

Tammuz Brown, from Abbey Wood, Greenwich was jailed for 16 years in September at the Old Bailey for murder.

Malcolm, a student of St Francis Xavier’s College in Clapham, who previously went to Harris Academy, Peckham was stabbed three times, including once in the heart.

Olumide said at the time of the sentence: “You killed a peacemaker. Only God can avenge. I can’t do anything. The judgement can’t take away the pain.

“The judge did what she could according to the rules. She couldn’t do more within the rules of the law.

“Life should be life. There should be a higher number of years to serve as a deterrent. He should be able to pay for what he has done.

“Malcolm was in the prime of his adulthood. He could have been anything. Could have done anything.”

The Malcolm Mide-Madariola World Foundation has been set up by Malcolm’s family in the wake of his death.

The foundation collects clothes and food for disadvantaged families, offers scholarships and mentoring activities for deprived families, and stages career studies and sports sessions in his memory.

Olumide said: “The foundation is a reflection of Malcolm and his record of excellence. His magnanimous, benevolent attitude.

“He had the best results in school and college and we want to live in that. To help the youth avoid these situations and to support victims like us.

“Malcolm was someone to lean on. A loyal person. Very brave. Never in his life did he run away.

“He wrote music, soul and hip-hop. He loved drumming and had been drumming in the church since he was seven years old. I remember buying them for him.

“Everything he wanted, I gave it to him. I feel so blessed to have had him as a son, and the respect the rest of my kids show their parents.

“The loss cannot be equal to any time served by Tammuz Brown.

“You can’t see justice in the number of years.

“The judge said ‘the moment you brought a knife to that scene, you made it to be bloody. You intended to make it bloody when Malcolm intervened’.”