A woman has been left ‘traumatised’ after her friend was stabbed while handing out church leaflets in broad daylight on High Street, Sheffield.
Mohamed Issa Koroma, 24, a soup kitchen volunteer, died at the scene on 17 September.
Mohamed Issa Koroma (Source: South Yorkshire Police)
Victoria Walker, 35, whose two children were friends with Mr Koroma through a charity they volunteered at, said: “I’m absolutely devastated and traumatized. I think it’s a big loss to the world, because Mohamed is just a genuine person who had a good heart, loved humanity and helped people.
“It’s been a very tragic and painful experience for everybody. I believe Mohamed wouldn’t want us to spread hate to his killer, he would want us to forgive and to show him love, but it’s unacceptable for somebody to be racially aggressive or verbally and physically abusive in this city.
“It’s a very mentally and emotionally surreal thing because you just don’t anticipate that you’re going to go out and somebody is going to stab you multiple times. Nobody gets up and thinks that’s even a possibility.”
She added: “My life is greatly affected by knife crime, and I’ve been through 14 years of therapy just to get over that. It takes me a lot because of the mental scars.”
Around 10 years ago Ms Walker’s father survived after being stabbed 17 times in Sheffield which she described as ‘an unprovoked attack’.
Victoria Walker, 35 and her father (Source: Victoria Walker)
She said: “He died twice in the operating table because there was so much blood but he did pull through. I think that’s why Mohammed’s situation affected me the way it did because I’ve been in that situation when someone you love was lingering near the boundary of death, and you’ve gone to the hospital in your waiting room just to see if he’s survived. “
Sheffield has the most knife crime cases in 2019 and 2020 among South Yorkshire. The total number of local serious knife crime offences has seen a 18% increase in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the statistics released by South Yorkshire Police.
Ms Walker said: “There isn’t enough being pumped into services for young people which cares their mindset and explores their talents in Sheffield. It’s nobody’s fault or responsibility other than our own as a community. What we don’t have is a vocal leader, who should bring this to the forefront of the community, engage the community and get people to live.”
She has started a fundraising campaign to ‘give Mohamed a memorable send off’, also to raise people’s awareness of knife crime in Sheffield.
(Pic 1: Vigil for Mohamed Issa Koroma on 1st October, 2021; Pic 2: Attendee lighting candles; Pic 3: Attendee lighting candles; Pic 4: Attendee holding ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’ poster)
Sonia Gayle, a Sheffield Race Equality Commissioner, said: “The city has changed in so many ways these years, but I think the thing that we’ve always held dear is the wonderful Sheffield spirit that senses solidarity and community, and I do not believe that this has gone away.
“We should never allow this awful incident to overshadow or give people the impression that this is what Sheffield is about.”
James Patrick Lee, 31, of Doncaster Road, Rotherham, has been remanded in custody after being charged with Mohamed’s murder. A provisional trial date has been set for next March.
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