RIP Damilola Taylor
RIP it is a pity
Damilola Taylor (7 December
1989 – 27 November 2000) was a ten-year-old schoolboy who died in England in
what became one of the country's most high-profile killings. Several young boys
were cleared of murder charges after a lengthy trial, and later two brothers
were convicted of manslaughter.
Early Life
Damilola Taylor was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to Richard and Gloria Taylor (died 8 April 2008). He
attended Wisdom Montessori School, Ikosi, Ketu, Lagos, before he traveled to
the United Kingdom in August 2000 with his family to allow his sister Gbemi to seek
treatment for epilepsy.
Death
On 27 November 2000, Taylor
set off from Peckham Library at
4:51 pm to make his way home. He was captured on CCTV as he walked away. On
approaching the North Peckham Estate he
received a gash to his left thigh, severing a artery. Staggering to a
stairwell, he collapsed and bled to near death in the space of approximately 30
minutes. He was still alive in an ambulance on his way to hospital.
Different forensic scientists have presented different events
that could have given Taylor his fatal wounds. The theory accepted by the Metropolitan Police is
that he was attacked and fell on a broken bottle, later bleeding to death. He
died 10 days before his 11th birthday.
First
Trial
In 2002, four youths,
including two 16-year-old brothers, went on trial at the Old Bailey for the murder of Damilola.
The trial led to all four suspects being acquitted. Two were acquitted on the
direction of the judge after he ruled that the prosecution's key witness, a
14-year-old girl, was unreliable; the jury found the other two not guilty. As
well as questioning the reliability of the young witness, the defence presented
evidence suggesting that Taylor's wounds were consistent with his falling on a
broken bottle and that he had not been the victim of an attack.
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