Anti Knife Crime seminar to be held in May

The mother of a murdered teenager is hosting an anti knife crime seminar in Dagenham on the 8th of May in an ongoing battle to stop people from carrying knives.

Peguy Kato who lost her son Champion in 2013, has dedicated her life to helping bereaved families and to stop youths from carrying knives. She is an ambassador for Barking and Dagenham and has set up Champion’s Charity in memory of her son Champion Ghanda.

Champion was not a drug dealer, he was a young man stabbed to death on the streets of Newham for no reason, like many other teenagers murdered on our streets.

Now, Peguy spends her life campaigning and helping as many other families as she can to prevent the horrors she faced herself.

“I did not think the sun would ever rise again. I thought my life had ended when his life ended, I could not believe he was dead. How could he be dead?”

The Harold Hill mother had to watch the CCTV footage of her son die on the street in Sandringham Road, Forest Gate during the trial and has faced challenge after challenge since he was murdered.

“When is this all going to stop? When is someone going to do something? This breaks my heart everyday to hear of more children being stabbed to death.”

The event will also feature other families of murder victims such as Sue Hedges who lost her son Ricky Hayden in 2016.

Gangs exploitation police will be present alongside special guest Courtney Barrett, ‘The Knife man’ who has taken over 1,500 knives off the streets of east London.

Mr Barrett told the Havering Daily: “I’m extremely pleased that we are joining forces on May 8th to protect and champion our youths.

“This is what needs to happen nationwide. All agencies and organisations must come together if we are going to create a safer society and future for our youth.”

Please see below for further details of the seminar.