Plea to end knife violence in Croydon as community grieves the deaths of two 16-year-old boys

By Tara O’Connor, local democracy reporter

A plea for an end to violence in Croydon this summer has come in the wake of two teenagers losing their lives to knife crime in less than 10 days.

Demarie Omare Roye, 16, was stabbed in Bensham Manor Road, Thornton Heath on July 9, he died at Croydon University Hospital two days later.

Just over a week earlier, 16-year-old Camron Smith died after being stabbed inside a home on the Shrublands Estate on July 1.

A two minutes silence for the two boys was held at the My Ends meeting at CVA in London Road on Friday.

Now attention is turning to the summer with concerns for the safety of young people.

A vigil was held for Demarie on Thursday night (July 15) outside his school Oasis Shirley Park.

School principal Saqib Chaudhri gave the meeting a moving account of teachers and students supporting each other after the loss of the 16-year-old.

Mr Chaudhri said Demarie had just finished his GCSEs and was set to go to college to study engineering.

He said: “He had all his life in front of him, it is devastating.

“Demarie was a lovely boy full of character and full of life, he was a young man with charisma. It was a real loss to our school.”

Mr Chaudhri said that there is a sense of anxiety approaching the summer with children across Croydon scared to go out and families who won’t even let their children go to the shops by themselves.

The meeting heard from voluntary organisations and police that support for young people over the summer holidays will be the key to preventing further violence.

Inspector James Weston said: “Parents are concerned about their kids out on the streets this summer. We have got to keep everyone safe, there is a huge emphasis on the community.

“Going into the summer we need to look after each other, it is about families knowing if there is a knife missing, what’s being ordered in, who children are hanging around with.

“I think it is a really pivotal time now. I know we can’t stop every crime, however I think we’ve really got strength in this room to deal with that.”

Politicians from the council as well as the MPs for Croydon North and Croydon Central were at the meeting along with Tottenham MP and shadow justice secretary David Lammy.

Mr Lammy said: “This isn’t me speaking as an MP, this is me as a black father, my own worries about my 15-year-old son and the anxiety you have as a black parent.

“I worry because this is becoming normalised, it is not normal for 15 year olds to be on murder charges and we should never normalise it, we should demand more.”

My Ends meetings have been held every Friday since the murder of George Floyd and brings together police, community leaders, the voluntary sector and council – Anthony King chairs the meetings and the project.

Police are appealing for witnesses, especially anyone who might have seen Demarie riding a blue mountain bike before the attack on July 9 in Thornton Heath.

A 19-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder remains in custody at a south London police station.

A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and was later further arrested on suspicion of murder. He has since been released under investigation, police have said.