Shukri Abdi: Bullied black refugee girl who drowned while classmates laughed for two minutes now a BLM icon
Shukri Abdi's short life was a tragic one. She was born in a refugee camp in Kenya after her family fled the conflict in their homeland, Somalia, and spent a majority of her life within its confines.
Things seemed to be finally looking up in 2017 after she, her mother and her four siblings, were brought to the UK as part of the vulnerable persons' resettlement scheme in which refugees are vetted by the United Nations. There was a hope for a better life, one that wasn't punctuated by war and misfortune. But then, misfortune struck. Almost exactly a year ago, Shukri drowned in the River Irwell in Bury, with Greater Manchester Police ruling that her death was a "tragic accident".
Her mother, Zamam Arab Ture, on the other hand, insisted that her daughter was "subjected to extensive bullying at school" and alleged that authorities "failed to listen to her concerns in the past." She said Shukri could not swim and "had never been swimming or been near a river in her life."
An inquest into Shukri's death this past February seemed to suggest Ture was right, with it being revealed that one of the children who were with Shukri at the time laughed for two minutes as she drowned and called for help.
Because of their age, the children connected to the case were referred to only as Child One, Child Two, Child Three, Child Four, and Child Five, reported the Guardian. Speaking via video link, it was Child Three who told the inquest at Manchester Town Hall of the sequence of events that led to Shukri's death on June 27, 2019.
Child Four said it was a coincidence that they and Child Three met up with Shukri, Child One, and Child Two that fateful day. They said they had been watching 'Toy Story 4' before meeting up, following which the group decided they would go down to the river.
Child Four shared that Child One, Child Two, and Shukri were friendly towards one another en route to the river. However, another pupil said Child One and another child approached Shukri in a sports changing room at around 3 pm and intimidated her. "They started pushing her around," she had told officers in an interview that was played to the court. "She wasn’t saying anything. I thought it was a bit horrible."
Asked how she thought the 12-year-old was feeling at the time, the pupil replied, "I think she was feeling a bit worried and scared. Not properly nervous just a bit worried… The way she was acting, she wasn’t really happy."
Child Four said Shukri seemed "not really bothered" as they went to the river. They said, when asked of her swimming ability, Shukri said she was "all right".
Shukri and Child One then went to a part of the river where the water was deeper, the inquest heard. She was initially untroubled in the water while she had her arm on Child One's shoulder but got into difficulties after Child One left her and went back to the other children who were in shallower waters, Child Four said.
"Then Shukri’s head went under and came back up. I think she was trying to say something but she couldn’t, trying to call out but she couldn’t," Child Four told the court.
Child Two corroborated Child Four's story but said Shukri had let go of Child One's hand because "the water was flowing." They said the 12-year-old went down, came back up again, and was shouting for help and flapping her hands. "I knew that she would die," the child confessed. "When she went down the second time she never came back up."
Asked if Child One was laughing as Shukri drowned, Child Four replied in the affirmative. "Child One was laughing for a couple of minutes," they admitted. "Child One was still laughing when me and Child Three were trying to help. Child One was still laughing when I jumped in."
Child Four said she presumed Child One thought Shukri was joking, but that it was obvious the 12-year-old was in trouble. After jumping into the water and failing to save her, they said they ran to the nearby Bury Police Station with Child Three to alert the authorities. They said neither Child One nor Child Two did anything as Shukri drowned and that Child One only stopped laughing after the police arrived at the scene.
Child One confessed she told Shukri, "If you don’t get into the water, I’m going to kill you," but insisted she had done so jokingly.
Shukri's case has received renewed attention in both the UK and the US after it was adopted by Black Lives Matter campaigners following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd. A Change.org petition calling for justice for the 12-year-old that was created a year ago was flooded recently by supporters and has been signed over one million times.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has now called for the "widest possible investigation" into her death, reported the Guardian. "I have today written to the coroner pledging our support for the process that is underway and for the widest possible investigation into what happened both on the day and in the months leading up to it, looking at the actions of all public bodies involved," he said.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had opened an investigation into the handling of the case in August 2019 and completed the investigation in January 2020 but will wait to publish their report until the conclusion of the inquest, which has likely been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.