The mom of a younger man who was stabbed to dying by his ‘controlling and coercive’ girlfriend has revealed he felt ‘too ashamed’ to go to police about her ongoing abuse.
Tai O’Donnell, 19, from Croydon, south London, was a preferred teenager with aspirations to change into a music producer when he fell into the clutches of Kamila Ahmad, then aged 22, in summer time 2020.
Regardless of standing at simply 5ft tall and with a notably excessive voice, Ahmad already had a string of 11 convictions to her identify, together with battery, theft and assault, and had beforehand stabbed a boyfriend in 2015, The Instances experiences.
The connection noticed Tai change into remoted and withdrawn, till he was finally stabbed by Ahmad within the early hours of March 3, 2021, and bled to dying after she did not name an ambulance.
Following a trial at Croydon Crown Courtroom this month, Ahmad was convicted of homicide in addition to grievous bodily hurt for the assault on her earlier boyfriend. She was jailed for all times with a minimal 23-year time period.
Tai O’Donnell, 19, from Croydon, south London, was a preferred teenager with aspirations to change into a music producer when he fell into the clutches of Kamila Ahmad, then aged 22, in summer time 2020
Following a trial at Croydon Crown Courtroom this month, Kamila Ahmad, 22, was convicted of homicide in addition to grievous bodily hurt for the assault on her earlier boyfriend. She was jailed for all times with a minimal 23-year time period
Tai’s devastated mom Stacey O’Donnell revealed how the 6ft 2in scholar doted on his 4 youthful siblings and was a trusted confidante to his vast circle of associates.
Mrs O’Donnell mentioned: ‘I’d seen his stress. However I made the unsuitable assumption that it was simply a median poisonous relationship. There was nothing common about it. It was critical abuse. My son didn’t wish to die.’
She mentioned Tai felt too embarrassed to inform police that he was being attacked by his girlfriend – who hardly reached his chest in top.
‘Tai wasn’t a timid boy,’ she mentioned. ‘He had a powerful spirit. By no means in 1,000,000 years would I’ve thought that he would find yourself in a state of affairs like this.
‘He was a younger, standard boy, he didn’t wish to be seen as somebody who was being terrorised by a woman. He was embarrassed.’
The teen was a scholar at Croydon Faculty with desires of reaching the highest of the music business when associates launched him to Ahmad, who had a fame of being a ‘dangerous woman’.
The younger girl had endured a troubled childhood wherein she witnessed her father repeatedly abuse her mom. She was nonetheless on licence for an offence of theft and possession of a bladed article when she met Tai.
Inside two months of assembly, Tai confided to his mom that Ahmad would ‘kick off’ over minor points, though he tried to joke about it. Over time, it turned obvious he was not allowed to see associates with out his girlfriend’s say-so or keep out with out her permission.
Tai’s devastated mom Stacey O’Donnell (pictured collectively) mentioned he felt too embarrassed to inform police that he was being attacked by his girlfriend – who hardly reached his chest in top
He as soon as referred to as his mom in the midst of the evening frightened after Ahmad started banging on his entrance door. When household arrived, Ahmad was inside and Tai insisted every little thing was okay.
On one other event his mom observed chew marks on his neck, and Ahmad additionally used a brick to smash her method into their house.
Mrs O’Donnell acknowledged Ahmad would threaten suicide every time her son talked of ending the connection and had threatened to ‘shank [stab]’ him at different occasions.
On March 2, she went to see her son and his girlfriend of their house and instructed them to finish their ‘poisonous’ relationship as soon as and for all, advising them: ‘The 2 of you aren’t good for one another.’
As she mentioned goodbye to her son for what can be the final time, she mentioned: ‘It’s killing me to see you dwelling like this.’
The couple have been overheard arguing later that night and CCTV caught Ahmad swinging her bag on the street and hitting Tai within the face at 12.25am.
At 3.27am, Ahmad message a member of the family she had ‘stabbed somebody’ and ‘nobody helps me clear him up’.
A neighbour referred to as police at noon and officers discovered Tai’s physique on the scene. A pathologist judged that had an ambulance been referred to as, Tai in all probability would have survived his accidents.
Ahmad lies to police, insisting she was a youthful sister of a neighbour and had nothing to do with the deceased. Nonetheless, officers discovered a bloodstained jacket and rucksack which was linked to the scene by DNA.
Decide Peter Gower mentioned: ‘It demonstrates with chilling readability how extremely harmful a younger girl you’re. You have been detached that he died and have proven not the smallest little bit of regret.’
The decide additionally rejected Ahmad’s narrative that she was the sufferer of home abuse within the relationship, describing her behaviour as ‘controlling and coercive’.
Following Ahmad’s arrest, earlier boyfriend Karim Hussein, 25, got here ahead and revealed how he had been stabbed by her throughout their relationship in 2015.
Tai’s mom, who attended court docket every day wearing black, was praised by the decide for her composure and ‘quiet dignity’ all through the proceedings.
