Zubeida Malik Interview with Richard Taylor on BBC Radio 4

To now a remarkable interview. It’s been 8 weeks since Damilola Taylor bled to death on a stairwell on a Peckham Estate in South East London. Despite the fact that a number of people have been questioned, and indeed arrested, no-one’s been charged. Police say they believe they know who was responsible but they need more evidence, and they say they face a culture of hostility from some of those who witnessed the stabbing. In this first interview since the funeral, Richard Taylor, Damilola’s father, talks about his feelings to Zubeida Malik who began by asking him how he felt about this apparent wall of silence in the community about who killed his son. Richard Taylor The community in Peckham are kind of scared. They are afraid of a backlash from the gangs that terrorise the area and they feel if they come out and give evidence to the police they are afraid of reprisal, and police are giving assurance that they will give protection to anyone who wishes, or who has information which I know very well that they do, they do have information on who has done this heinous act. The person that carried out the *** of Damilola is well known in the area, and they are afraid to come out and assist the police because they fear that they will be the next person that will be hacked down by the gang. I am disappointed at this reaction, this action from the community. Parents are supposed to realise that protecting the criminals, I will call them criminals who the murderers of my son… I don’t expect parents to hide them, I expect members of the community, members of the area to go out and talk to the police. They are supposed to prevent another ***, another killing in the area. Zubeida Malik Why do you think it is that these parents are protecting, in effect, these killers? Richard Taylor I feel the parents are protecting the killers because they too are criminals. They don’t realise that protecting their kids or the killers will have a resultant effect in the future of this young children that carried out the *** of my lovely son. The parents are irresponsible people, they don’t have family values or it’s as a result of this that they don’t really…I think they don’t have control over their kids. Zubeida Malik Would this ever happen in Nigeria, anything like this? Richard Taylor I’m afraid this kind of act can never, never, it can never happen in Nigeria, it’s something that is strange in nature to me and to everybody in Nigeria, they are all shocked. People of Nigeria are shocked that a civilised country like the UK will still have things like this happening. I don’t think such act will ever take place. We have violent acts going on in Nigeria but not killing of a young boy like Damilola, a young boy who came here within 4 months and he was hacked down by children of no value. Children that go out in the street, they wanted Damilola to be part of them, they wanted him to join their gang, and the discipline that Damilola had was quite different. The kind of training Damilola had was different from theirs, so they feel that the best thing is to get rid of him before he brings in the changes that is required, moral changes that Peckham needs. There is a lot of degradation in Peckham. Zubeida Malik Do you think there has been a breakdown of moral values in Peckham, or areas like Peckham? Richard Taylor There is a break down in moral values in Peckham and some other areas in London, here. I am disappointed in this kind of behaviour, where kids are allowed to go about with knives, dangerous weapons, and it’s a terrible thing, you know it can never happen in Nigeria. Zubeida Malik Do you regret that your family ever came to Britain now? Richard Taylor If not for the death that happened it will have been a great joy to have them here, but with this I feel disappointed, I’ll say I regret it, I regret ever sending them back here. I’m still terribly shocked, I still feel that if I had not allowed Damilola to come to England he would still be alive today. Zubeida Malik If the killer or killers are ever caught what would you like to say to them? Richard Taylor I want to find out why they chose to *** my son. What has he done to them. I will give them a lot of advice that they should stay away from form of crime, it is not the best in life. Zubeida Malik What about the political involvement in the *** of Damilola. How do you feel about that? Richard Taylor The interference of the politicians at the earlier stage of the *** of my son was ill timed, because at that time we are grieving. I never thought that there would be a situation were politicians would go into the area and talk about Damilola’s ***, it was ill timed, to me his burial should have been allowed to take place and other things should have come up. It was wrongly timed anyway, people of the United Kingdom have been very, very kind, we so much appreciated their efforts, we are grateful to them. Zubeida Malik You’re obviously someone who has a lot of opinions about moral breakdown in society, or some sections of society. What advice would you give to the Government to try and rectify that? Richard Taylor I think there should be drastic changes in the policies so that… of the present policies regarding moral values and family values. There are lots of obsolete laws or norms. We are living in a world which requires discipline. If there are no discipline in this society things like this will become so rampant. In this society people will continue… will carry guns.. I mean they are carrying knives at the moment. I mean kids of maybe 9, 10 are carrying knives all over the place. There is need to have a law or... by which children or adults are prevented from carrying all these dangerous weapons. We don’t want it to deteriorate to a situation where everybody is carrying gun in the street of London, you know it is going to be disastrous. Zubeida Malik Do you think anything positive can ever come out of the *** of Damilola? Richard Taylor I hopefully think, or believe, that with the campaign which we were going to mount here, especially in the deprived community like Peckham, we hope that there will be positive changes in the near future. We hope that parents will realise that they need to bring up their children in the way Damilola lived his life. Parents are supposed to know that they don’t have to rely much on the Government to bring up their children for them, rather it’s their responsibilities, and this are things we are going to campaign. James Naughtie The father of Damilola Taylor talking to Zubeida Malik.