| Flowers in Gods Garden
- Articles |
01/06/01 - Murderers of Anna,
8, to testify at inquiry
John Carvel, social affairs editor
The Guardian
The murderers of eight-year-old Anna Climbie are to give
evidence at a public inquiry into her death about defects
in the child protection system that allowed them to perpetrate
their crimes, its chairman said yesterday.
He disclosed the unusual procedure at the inquiry's
opening session yesterday, saying he was determined
to discover how the girl died from "appalling ill
treatment" in spite of the involvement of social
services, police and the NHS.
Lord Laming said the girl's killers would give witness
statements, although it was not yet decided whether
they would appear at an open session of the inquiry
in front of television cameras. The other options are
to take evidence by video link to their prisons or to
move the inquiry to visit them in custody.
Marie Therese Kouao, 44, the girl's aunt, and Carl
Manning, 28, Kouao's boyfriend, were sentenced to life
imprisonment in January for the murder of Anna, whose
real name was Victoria, at her home in Tottenham, north
London, in February 2000 after she died from multiple
organ failure, malnutrition and neglect.
The girl, who had been renamed by her killers, had
been brought to the attention of social services three
times and was discharged from hospital twice after coming
to Britain from Ivory Coast in 1999. After her death,
the marks of 128 separate injuries were found on her
body. The trial heard that she had been repeatedly beaten
and forced to sleep, bound hand and foot, in a binliner
in an unheated bathroom.
Lord Laming, a former chief inspector of social services,
said: "The inquiry has approached Kouao and Manning
requiring them to give a statement detailing what services
they sought while Victoria was supposedly in their care."
Manning had already agreed to give evidence. "And
I expect to receive the same [positive response] from
Kouao." The inquiry has powers to subpoena reluctant
witnesses.
Lord Laming and the inquiry's four professional assessors
may travel to Ivory Coast to talk to Anna's parents,
who put the girl in Kouao's care in the hope of giving
her a better chance in life.
He said it was important that "something good"
came out of the death of the girl. The aim would be
to strengthen safeguards to prevent similar tragedies
in future.
"This is the first inquiry which has been set
up to look at the system as a whole," he said.
It involved three simultaneous investigations into social,
health and police services. Proceedings would be "thorough,
open and fair" and "inquisitorial rather than
adversarial", although social workers and others
giving evidence would be entitled to legal representation.
Lord Laming said: "In the child care field there
have been a number of inquiries in the past and I believe
the recommendations of those inquiries have been acted
upon and have informed good practice."
The four assessors supporting the inquiry will be Nellie
Adjaye, consultant paediatrician for Maidstone and Tunbridge
Wells NHS trust in Kent; Donna Kinnair, strategic commissioner
for children's services at Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham
health authority, south London; John Fox, a Hampshire
detective superintendent; and Nigel Richardson, assistant
director for children and families in north Lincolnshire.
Proceedings are to be held in government offices at the
Elephant and Castle in south London. Lord Laming emphasised
that the premises would be "secure and self-contained"
to separate the inquiry from government officials. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
|
|
| Flowers in Gods Garden |
|
| Paul Pearson |
|
| Rosie Palmer |
|
| Sophie Hook |
|
| Sarah Payne |
|
| Victoria Climbie |
|
| Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman |
- Documents
- Audio
|
| The Yorkshire Ripper |
- Video
|
|
