By Deon Green, Freelance Writer 
Flowers and teddy bears have been placed outside the home of Toni-Ann Byfield in London. – Contributed Photo
LONDON, England:
A BLACK flag swayed over the doorway, flowers littered the gateway, a grim reminder of where seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield and her 41-year-old father Bertram Byfield were murdered in North London last Sunday morning.
It's Thursday night. The wind was chilly but that did not prevent hundreds from lighting their candles, at a vigil held by community groups in the area, to remember the child and her father.
The atmosphere was sombre as a preacher pleaded for the killing to be stopped. "Not another black child must die; not another white child must die, not another black man must die, not another white man must die, there is nothing more to say," his voiced boomed through a microphone, while policemen stopped traffic for minutes of silence in remembrance of the child and father.
This is North London, fast becoming like the Wild West in the United States many believe. Toni-Ann Byfield was killed by a bullet to the back as she tried to flee from the attackers.
Police, accompanied by dogs, carry out searches on a regular basis. Screeching emergency vehicles darting their way through traffic, abandoned vehicles, idle young men and women roaming the streets and a few old timers sipping on their brew at the various pubs, seem a normal way of life for many.
GUNNED DOWN
This is the area where a number of Jamaicans have been gunned down since the year began. One of the most recent murders include former police officer Hershell Broderick who was riddled with bullets as he sat in a car on Harlesden High Street. His killing is believed to be a case of mistaken identity and him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A few days later on April 2, Kavian Hopwood-Francis, 21, was sprayed with bullets as he walked along the Stonebridge Estate in broad daylight.
It was Patsy Hopwood, Kavian's mother who led a gospel choir from Willesden New Testament Church of God to remember Toni-Ann and Bertram at Thursday night's vigil in Kensal Green.
As they sang, preached and prayed, organiser of the vigil Cheryl Townsden, vice chairperson of the Harlesden Community enforcement likened the area to movies in the Wild West. She said the purpose of the vigil was a way to show the community's feeling of disgust, shock and total disbelief that someone could have murdered a child.
"What we are hoping to achieve by having this vigil is basically to show a feeling of solidarity, where people can come together, show their disgust and make a community response to saying enough is enough," she told The Sunday Gleaner.
She stated that the response did not mean an end to gun crime. "If there was one solution, we would have implemented it, but we are saying that there are still people in this community who would not dream of hurting a child."
Asked about the level of concern among the residents in North London, she said, "...Between March and April alone we had three young men all Jamaicans, murdered on the streets of North London, we cannot accept this, we have to have nil acceptance of any black children, any black men, any black women, or anybody at all being slaughtered," she said.
At the same time Councillor for Brent in North London, Clinton Beswick, also a Jamaican, with responsibility for Community and Public Safety, admitted that the area was becoming too violent.
"We are becoming like the Wild West where there is no law and order," he told The Sunday Gleaner.
KILLED
In Birmingham where Toni-Ann attended school, her teacher Mrs. Jennings described her as 'thoughtful, well-mannered and a pleasure to teach. Toni-Ann was with her father for the weekend. She should have started school the day before she was killed. She had lived with relatives in Birmingham while her father served a nine-year drug-related sentence in prison.
Prior to the father's release she was in full care of the of
the Birmingham City Council from which the father sought full custody.
The Willesden and Brent Chronicle quoted Home Secretary David Blunket as having given some reassurance to residents following the double murder. He said he hoped the incident would inspire the community to want to be a part of the solution and called for more information from the public.
