A London teacher was killed on a walk to the pub, police say. Another tragedy in the UK’s gender violence epidemic
London’s Metropolitan Police said in a Thursday statement that Nessa had left her home in the borough of Greenwich just before 8:30 p.m. on Friday September 17. Detectives believe that she was walking through Cator Park towards a bar in Pegler Square, where she had planned to meet a friend.
She is thought to have been murdered on her journey through the park, the Met statement said, with her body found the following afternoon, close to a nearby community center.
“Sabina’s journey should have taken just over five minutes but she never made it to her destination,” Detective Chief Inspector Joe Garrity said, adding: “We know the community are rightly shocked by this murder — as are we — and we are using every resource available to us to find the individual responsible.”
Garrity has appealed for anyone in the area of the park around the time of the attack to come forward.
Nessa, who taught at a primary school in Lewisham, southeast London, was “truly the most kind, caring person out there,” Ahmed said. “I don’t understand how someone can do this, I really don’t. It’s a big, big loss to our family,” he said.
Epidemic of violence against women
Everard went missing after leaving a friend’s house in Clapham, south London, on May 3. Her body was found a week later, more than 50 miles from where she was last seen. Her killer, a serving police officer, pleaded guilty to her kidnap, rape and murder.
Everard’s story prompted an outpouring across social media from women sharing their own experiences of sexual assault and harassment, catapulting the UK’s damning record on violence against women and girls into the national spotlight.
Reid added that the “muted” reaction from the press and a “lack of public outcry” for Nessa — a woman of color — “demonstrates, once again, that not all victims are treated with the same respect and reverence.”
On Thursday, Greenwich Council told CNN that they had handed out 200 personal alarms to women and vulnerable residents in the borough this week “following the horrific murder of Sabina Nessa.”
The small device can be attached to keys, handbags or held, and activate a loud alarm in the event of an attack, a Greenwich Council spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the alarms have been distributed at events since 2019.
Police should make the “relentless” pursuit and disruption of perpetrators a priority, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services said.
From 2008-2018, 1,425 women were killed by men, according to Femicide Census data. The majority (62%) of those murders were committed by a woman’s current or former partner, while 15% of women were killed by men that they knew. One in 12 (8%) of those murders were by strangers.
A vigil, organized by the group “Reclaim These Streets” will be held for Nessa on Friday at 7 p.m. at Pegler Square in Lewisham.