Umunna: Zac Olumegbon “was the 13th teenager to lose a life needlessly in our capital city”

Carrying a knife on the UK streets is “unacceptable”, Prime Minister David Cameron has said. In a written response to Mr. Chuka Umunna, MP for Streatham, who asked what the Government was doing to stop violence on the streets following the murder of his 15 year old constituent Zac Olumegbon, Mr. Cameron said “it is clear to me that we need to send the strongest possible signal that carrying a knife on our streets is just unacceptable.”

He said there was need of sending the signal that carrying a knife “is not a defensive measure, that it is not a cool thing to do, that it should not happen, and that the punishment will be tough. That, in my view, is the short-term measure that we need.”

Zac was murdered in a planned attack close to his school in West Norwood on 2nd July. Mr. Umunna said that he “was the 13th teenager to lose a life needlessly in our capital city.”

Police were called at approx 08.50hrs on 2nd July to reports of an assault in Gipsy Road Gardens SE27. Zac was taken by ambulance to a south London hospital suffering multiple stab wounds. He was confirmed dead shortly after arrival. A post-mortem at Greenwich Mortuary gave cause of death as stab wounds to the chest. A second teenager, 14, was stabbed in the arm during the incident; he was treated at hospital for minor injuries.

Mr. Cameron said: “It is absolutely horrific, and it seemed so planned and premeditated. It is appalling to think that things like this happen on our streets.”

He said more must be done “to strengthen communities, to strengthen families, and to give people an alternative to the gangs towards which they will otherwise be drawn. Too many young people join a gang because they do not have other networks, help, respect and hope in their lives. That is a long-term agenda, it is an agenda that I know is shared on both sides of the House, and we must pursue it.”

By Stephen Ogongo

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