The death of Ibrahim Ilyas, shot on Saturday 3rd June 2006, has shocked and frightened many residents and left many asking: ‘how could this have happened?’ and ‘where do we go from here?’
The Messenger spoke to a prominent member of the Pakistani community, who voiced the shock of his community:
“I came across women who were just shaking, such was the reaction of absolute shock”.
He spoke of the lack of facilities, including play and leisure facilities in Burngreave and the need to further engage the Pakistani community in the regeneration of the area. He spoke of the lessons for the community:
“As adults, what we have sewn, now we reap.”
He said that the Pakistani community had spent too long worrying about divisions based on which mosque people attended; which form of Islam they practiced or which part of Pakistan they were from. While he felt the community didn’t suffer from material poverty; he commented on the number of children playing in the streets:
“We need more love in our homes and we need to give our children more responsibility. For too long, we, as adults have not encouraged our children to progress with education, we’ve just said:
‘Go and find work and earn some money’. It’s time to start trusting and engaging our young people.”
The Messenger also spoke to a local youth worker who suggested rivalry between local gangs of youth and their involvement in the dealing of drugs as the cause, but stressed that residents should not fear for their individual safety as it has nothing to do with innocent members of the community.
The youth worker stated that while there is considerable work being done with Pakistani youngsters there is still a need for further provision. Merely having a few snooker sessions or day trips doesn’t mean young people’s needs are being met.
Resident reaction
The Messenger spoke to local residents. A woman from Firvale said:
“This is a wake-up call for some young men to realise that if they stay in these activities the same thing might happen to them – there’s been a lot of serious thinking going on round here in the last few weeks.”
A woman from the Pakistani community said:
“Some mothers are decreasing their hours of work so they’re around the teenage boys more, to try and make sure that they avoid what happened to Ibby.
“What are the police doing round here? We’ve passed on information but nothing ever seems to be done; one or two are arrested but the level of drug dealing seems to be increasing.”
Police response
Asked to respond to residents comments that visible drug dealing in the Abbeyfield Road and Scott Road area has got worse in the last five years, but that nothing has been done, Inspector Jon Ekwubiri, of Burngreave Safer Neighbourhoods Team told the Messenger:
“It is being reported to us, but not as
much as it could be.We need details of what is happening so we can act.
This has been a traumatic event for many residents. If residents want to talk to us about anything they can call our office on 296 4437.”
Recorded crime figures show that violent crime has more than doubled in the area in the last five years and recent unrelated gun incidents on Melrose Road and Verdon Street have left some residents concerned that violent crime is still a problem in Burngreave. The Inspector said:
“The incident on Abbeyfield Road was near enough a one off, sadly someone has died and this we deeply regret, but Burngreave is still one of the better places to live in England.We have had an unusually high number of incidents in June, but there’s no comparison to five years ago when the number of incidents was continuously high, and on a weekly basis.
“I don’t see violent crime or gun crime going up on the ground.To me it shows that people are more comfortable reporting these kinds of crimes to us. It’s important to realise that it is easy to get hold of a gun nowadays, particularly replicas, so keeping abreast of gun crime is not easy.”
Looking for solutions
At the July Burngreave Community Action Forum quarterly meeting, residents expressed their sympathy with the grieving family. Noting that six months ago figures showed Burngreave to be the safest place in the City, many wondered what had gone wrong. While recognising that there are no easy solutions, residents suggested engaging young people at a younger age and better policing of drug crime as a start.