South Side Story?  Who knew? Just read this article in the prestigious Guardian. 

Oh well, guns don't kill people; knives kill people. So do baseball bats, hockey sticks and claw hammerss though.  How's that saying go?  People with guns, knives, baseball bats, hockey sticks and claw hammers kill people.

How about this for a solution -- "MRTT" -- mandatory random testosterone testing. If it's off the scale, mandatory injections of female hormones.

Thinking outside the box!

Susan

Father of stabbed boy condemns knife culture

James Sturcke and Bonnie Malkin and agencies
Friday June 9, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

The father of a 15-year-old boy stabbed to death last night by a gang of youths has said knife crime in the capital is out of control.

Visiting the scene of the murder of his son, Alex, in south London today, Kamondo Mulumbu said he was "shocked and saddened" by the attack. Police today launched a murder inquiry after the teenager was stabbed to death following a fight between a group of young men in Lambeth.

Mr Mulumbu, a father of six who lives nearby, said: "Knives are out of control. Most young people are walking around [with them].

"Alex was [a] good boy, he had nothing at all to do with knives."

Mr Mulumbu said his other son had called him last night to say Alex had been stabbed and rushed to hospital.

He said: "I went to the hospital. Ten minutes later the doctors asked me to come over and spoke to me. They said they tried to do the best they could but my son is no more in life."

Police this evening formally identified the victim as Alex Mulumba Kamondo, from the Kennington area. His family is originally from Zaire.

Officers were called to reports of a disturbance involving male youths in Lambeth just after 11pm last night. By the time police arrived, the group had dispersed.

At 11.15pm, police were told that a 15-year-old boy had been admitted to St Thomas's hospital with a single stab wound on the left side of his chest. The victim, who was driven to hospital after his friends flagged down a passing motorist, died an hour later.

In a press conference in Lambeth this afternoon, Detective Superintendent Richard Heselden, from SCD1 homicide investigation, said the boy was with two friends who got off a bus in Kennington Road, Lambeth. The trio were then confronted by a group of eight to 10 youths and "ushered" into a side street, he said.

Det Supt Heselden said once in Black Prince Road, several members of the larger group left, went into a nearby estate and came back armed with baseball bats and hockey sticks.

He said: "Witnesses describe seeing people with baseball bats, hockey sticks and we know there was a least one knife involved."

There was no evidence the victim had been physically restrained in the side street but it was likely there was "a degree of compulsion." (You think?)

Forensic officers were today carrying out a detailed search of the scene and surrounding area and had so far discovered two knives and a claw hammer, Det Supt Heselden said. It was not yet known if either of the knives was involved in the attack, he said.

Police were also beginning to collect and view CCTV footage of the area and conduct house-to-house inquiries.

"We would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time to come forward and tell police what you saw," he said. "It was a warm summer evening and we are sure the streets would have been busy at the time of the murder."

He also urged youths not to carry knives: "If you carry a knife it can end in one of two ways, either you are going to get hurt, or you are going to hurt somebody." (this advice oughta convince 'em)

Police are hunting a gang of around 10 black males in their late teens wearing dark clothing. It is believed at least some of the group are from the local area.

The attack is another in the list of recent stabbings that have highlighted the issue of knife crime and Britain's worsening knife-carrying culture.

Recent killings include the murder of a special constable, Nisha Patel-Nasri, 29, who bled to death after being stabbed in the leg with a kitchen knife on May 11. A week later Kiyan Prince, 15, was killed outside his north London school on May 18. They have been followed by, among others, Thomas Grant, a 19-year-old university student who was stabbed to death on May 27 after he tried to break up a dispute on a train.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin