Act on knife killings, victim’s mum begs PM
THE mother of a young man stabbed to death in a “barbaric” street attack has pleaded with the Prime Minister for help.
Sven Badzak, 22, was killed and his friend is fighting for his life after they were chased and attacked by a group in Kilburn, north-west London, at around 5.30pm on Saturday, police said.
He was one of two men knifed to death in an “abhorrent” spate of knife crime in just 24 hours across the capital that left another 12 wounded.
Mr Badzak, a train driver and aspiring lawyer who had been privately educated, had been on his way to a shop when he was set upon by a gang, his mum Jasna Badzak, 49, said.
Barbaric
Mr Badzak’s mother appealed on Twitter with pictures of her only son as a child with Boris Johnson, former chancellor George Osborne and former prime minister David Cameron.
The ex-Conservative activist tweeted: “Boris, this is my only son Sven with you and you knew him as he helped your campaign.
“Please get someone to help me after everything I did for you!”
She said her son had been “pointlessly stabbed for daring to go to Waitrose”.
The mother earlier told the My London site: “He was the most polite boy you could possibly imagine. He was beloved by everybody. He wasn’t around gangs or anything. He was a billion miles away from that.”
Chief Inspector Darren Jones, of Scotland Yard, said: “We believe Sven and his friend became involved in an altercation with a group of males. Sven fell to the ground and was attacked.”
Chief Inspector Guy Ellwood added: “This was a barbaric attack and the community will be rightly shocked.”
Police continue to investigate the spate of stabbings, none of which are believed to be linked. Detective Superintendent Nicky Arrowsmith described the latest surge as “needless and completely abhorrent”.
On Friday, a 22-year-old man was killed near Crystal Palace’s ground in south London, and a second man taken to hospital. A man was stabbed in Croydon, south London, and four men – all in their 20s – turned up at hospital with stab injuries after a fight in Streatham.
Two men in their 30s were stabbed in Chislehurst, southeast London, and a man in his 40s was also stabbed in Croydon town centre. He was arrested along with a 38-year-old.
On Saturday, a man in his 20s was stabbed in Couldson, south London, and a 24-year-old man knifed in Croydon.