BY JAY LAKER
A court has heard how an 18 year old son of a preacher was stabbed and bled to death from an injury to a major artery in his thigh. David Headlam was attacked after his friend who was stabbed in his left thigh was fortunate to sprint away and escape with his life. The attackers who arrived in a cab, then entered back into the cab on the 29th of July last year and ordered the cab driver to drive up the road in pursuit of David Headlam, the court was told. They caught up with him at Drayton Avenue and stabbed him repeatedly according to a neighbor. The neighbor said he heard David pleading for his life, shouting ‘don’t stab me, don’t kill me, but the attackers showed no mercy and he was stabbed to death.
The murderous thugs were according to prosecutor Timothy Cray ”armed with knives and wore dark hood clothing. Everything they did showed they wanted to kill or seriously harm their victim. A neighbour in the area where David was killed reluctantly spoke to eye of media after much persuasion. He said ” in the early hours of the morning that day shortly after 1 am, I heard a bang on my door but did not answer. It is a dangerous area and so I had no idea who was knocking on my door at that time and why they were knocking. I looked out and saw a teenager covered in blood trying to flag down a passing black cab, but then he just collapsed on the floor. It was a horrible sight. Within a short time, armed police arrived and people gathered outside. People rushed out from their houses and tried to use towels in a desperate attempt to stop the seemingly endless flow of blood. People were hysterical everywhere”
Attempts to save young David failed, and after being rushed to hospital, he was pronounced dead at 3.20am. Police have so far said they have no reason to believe the killing was gang related, but just because an individual is not an active member of a gang does not mean he may not have affiliations with a gang. The precise connection between the dead man and his assailants are unclear at the moment. That weekend there had been an unrelated shooting at a night club killing a young man, and a separate stabbing in the area.
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Harlseden is known to be a very rough area with a long history of killings and drug peddling. It is not the sort of area advisable for anyone with other options to raise their kids. Many of the youngsters have a warped perception that make violence synonymous with toughness, when in actual fact what they lack is smartness and good home training. Even those with good home training are influenced by those from dysfunctional homes and many of such children who commit atrocious crimes like stabbings are academically very weak.
Neigbours in the area generally perceive the family of the murdered teenager as a good, religious family- one that attended Church every Sunday. One neighbour told us ”David did not drink or smoke, he was a very polite and respectable young man” . Despite this, it would seem that David found himself in bad company, either consciously or negligently. The cause of the stabbings is not yet known, though we intend to find out in the course of this disturbing case what may have led to this brutal killing. Our team intend to conduct extensive research in the area about the dead victim, his two friends who escaped, and the suspected assailants. His father, Alonzo Headlam is head of a Pentecostal Church. He will not have much cause to say Hallelujah with his son’s tragic death especially knowing that his other two friends escaped.
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