Man stabbed five times says knife crime in Peterborough is ‘happening on a daily basis’

A community event aimed to promote awareness of the devastating consequences of knife crime was held in Peterborough city centre on Saturday (September 16).

The ‘Knives Over Lives’ event was organised by Bernadetta Omondi, chairperson of Black History Month Peterborough and Peterborough Racial Equality Council.

Politicians, police officers, activists and community leaders took turns to speak at the Cathedral Square event. Local bands and poets also had the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings through music and verse.

One of those speaking was Andrew Bowley, a local events organiser who was stabbed five times during an altercation in 2017. He was attacked when he demanded someone return a friend’s door keys.

The 39-year-old, who received two near-fatal stab wounds to the heart, explained to the gathered crowd why events of this kind this are so vital:

“This awareness is exactly what we need,” he said: “We need the community together and we need everyone to listen to what is going on in society.”

Describing the escalating state of knife violence as “heartbreaking,” Andrew reflected that using knives as weapons is “something that’s happening on a daily basis.”

Organiser Bernadetta pressed home that message: ”The issue we are tackling here is very, very important - it can land at anybody’s door at any time.”

“We are losing our young ones because of knife crime,” she remarked starkly.

However, the community ambassador – who regularly gives awareness talks with police officers at schools and churches – was quick to acknowledge that, though knife crime is most prevalent among teenagers, they are not the only ones to suffer the consequences.

“We are losing our best friends and our fathers,” she shared: “adults are also victims of this.”

Joyce Osei-Poku, the mum of a Peterborough teenager who was stabbed to death in April, was one of the day’s most impassioned speakers. Speaking movingly of her late son Kwabena – known to friends as Alfred – she said:

“Never in a million years would I think that, ten days after Alfred’s [19th] birthday, I would be picking up his casket.”

“I was a mother of three children,” she said: “Within ten days I became the mother of two.”