By James Simons-
Croydon Council is on the hot seat after its councillors exhibited a worrying level of negligence that contributed to a teenager being stabbed twice within a three months period and has caused his mother post-traumatic stress.
Ms Simone John, 45, says she suffers from constant flash backs and constant anxiety when she hear police sirens. Efforts by this organisation in the past month to establish why staff from Croydon Council failed to attend to the woman’s concerns have failed to produce any concrete answers.
The council has simply kept their mouths shut, either to cover up their poor conduct or protect their disappointing staff. Croydon’s Mp Sarah Jones, who personally met with Ms John in 2019, has been contacted to assist the important investigation which must hold the council to account for the woman’s ordeal.
Ms John contacted Mp Jones after her son was stabbed in November 2018, but neither the MP nor her representatives initially responded to her mail. Mp Jones eventually met with Ms Jones after her son was stabbed a second time in March 2019, when she reached out to the Mp a second time.
”She took time out to talk to me and expressed disappointment that she never received the first mail I sent. This led me to wonder whether some Mp staff choose which mails to pass on and which to ignore. I felt absolutely distraught and felt irrelevant to society and suffered bouts of severe fear”.
Ms Jones is now on medication and says she fears she may get a heart attack because of the high blood pressure and post traumatic fear she currently suffers from.
” My system is constantly running wild with fear, anxiety, and some level of bitterness. Anytime I see a young group of boys, especially with hoods, I immediately panic and think they may be looking for my son.
We have now been moved far away from Croydon, but the fear comes without my permission. I struggle to sleep and have recurring nightmares. I am still livid with how the people from the Council ignored my emails, and yet they are meant to be representing us? I still picture my son soaked in blood.I feel lucky that he survived, but I have not got over the trauma.
WARNINGS
Councillors at Croydon Council ignored crucial warnings from Simone John, who raised alarm that her son was at high risk of being stabbed by gangs in the area. Under statutory guidelines, councils are expected to rehouse families where there is an imminent risk to life or limb supported by the police. Evidence of the required risk to life was clear after her son was stabbed the first time in November, but Croydon Council still failed to act.
Several emails from 45 year old Simone Jones to members of the council April 2018, highlighting the risk of serious attack to her son, Na- Shan John, were ignored. The teenager was eventually stabbed in November 2018, leading to a police investigation into the stabbing and his well being. Even if councillors could hide under the defence no immediate threat to life , they can’t justify not responding to a desperate woman’s cry for help at all.
Her son was eventually stabbed twice, once in November, and again in March 2019. Ms Jones says police supported her claim of a serious risk to life, but several attempts she made for help fell on deaf ears. Numerous emails sent to councillors at the council were ignored until her son actually was stabbed before any action was taken.
Now, the young teenager is permanently scarred on his right arm and has been forced out of education. The mother says she has suffered severe levels of post traumatic stress, including depression flash backs and panic attacks and nightmares. She told The Eye Of Media.Com:
” I contacted so many councillors on so many occasions to express my fears and worries, but I was ignored almost every time. I felt totally worthless. I could see the stabbing coming after my son was confronted by gangs and chased with a knife on one occasion.
Ms Jones has allowed us to publish a picture of her son in hospital, including the scar.
Stabbed: Nashaar John
She added: ”I have tried to reach out for help since then, contacting different people from the Council, but nobody gets back to me. Now my son does not even agree to meet and tal with social workers because he has lost faith in the system. He sees them as just another one who will do nothing to change anything”
Stab wound on Nashaar John’s right arm
A spokesperson for the council said they do not comment on individual cases.