Hundreds of children hear knife crime message

Hundreds of children from Wolverhampton have been hearing the stories of people who have been involved in gangs and knife crime.

The 10 to 16-year-olds also heard from Nikita Kanda, the sister of Ronana Kanda, a 16-year-old murdered in 2022 in a case of mistaken identity.

She said: "I really hope that kids can take away the fact that if this can happen to Ronan it can happen to anyone, so we need to work together to combat it."

The day was organised by the City of Wolverhampton Council, as part of the youth-led My Tomorrow campaign.

The project has brought together dozens of organisations, including the Inpower Academy CIC, a martial arts group in Wolverhampton that campaigns to stop knife crime.

Its founder, Daryl Chambers, said it had carried out a survey and most of the young people it spoke to "know someone within their friendship circle carrying a knife".

Kairo Williams, another of the speakers, was 14 when he became involved in gang violence.

He is 18 now and said: "You don't realise until you branch out how really bad it is, because it's so normalised to you that it's just normal. I'd say deadly to be honest."

The event encouraged young people not to carry a knife, just to feel safe.

At the same time, the Violence Reduction Partnership is spending £70,000 to help schools across the West Midlands, educating children as young as six.

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