Christopher Kapessa: Drowned boy's family 'racially abused'

Family members of a teenage boy who drowned were beaten, urinated on and run over in the lead up to his death, an inquest has heard.

The mother of Christopher Kapessa said the family had been subjected to years of racial abuse since moving to Wales.

She added that the family received hate mail and had their home in Rhondda Cynon Taf daubed in racist graffiti.

Christopher, 13, died after being pushed into the river Cynon in 2019.

The High Court in 2022 upheld the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision not to charge a 14-year-old boy who allegedly caused the teenager's death.

Christopher's mother, Alina Joseph, told the inquest the family lived in Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, until 2018 and suffered "horrific treatment" and "felt very isolated".

She said they received "racial hate letters" and racist language had been written on the outside their home.

The court in Pontypridd heard of incidents over a number of years where she said her children were allegedly beaten, urinated on and run over.

She said they were reported to police but no action was taken.

Ms Joseph's statement described her son as her "treasure" and said she would "fight for justice for him".

She said Christopher "wasn't a confident swimmer" but had done "basic swimming lessons".

The inquest heard from a teenage boy at a river on the day Christopher died, who described the "panic" as a group of friends realised he could not swim.

The 17 year-old - who cannot be named because of his age - said he had joined friends at the river, at which time "10-plus" people were there, including Christopher.

The plans to meet at the river had been made on social media, he added.

He said that at the time he did not know whether Christopher could swim and did not jump into the river because he "didn't want to get into the dirty water".

Asked about the moment Christopher was pushed into the water, the teenager said: "Everybody didn't know if he could swim or not, there was no immediate panic. 

"As soon as everyone realised he couldn't swim, they was panicking, people jumped in to try and help."

Asked what Christopher was doing in the water, he said: "He was flailing, trying to keep himself above the water, struggling."

Asked whether there had been any barriers or fencing preventing them from accessing the bridge, the teenager said it was "out in the open".

He added that it appeared to be "out of use", however, and the murky water underneath meant it was not possible to see the bottom of the river.

The inquest heard that in a police interview following the incident, the teenager had said that he may have heard the boy who pushed Christopher jokingly tell him moments before: "I'll chuck you in now."

Asked how certain he was of what he had heard, however, the teenager said he didn't remember, although he had "clearly" seen the push itself.

The teenager explained how he then got on his bike and went to the nearest hospital to try to find help.

The barrister representing the boy who allegedly pushed Christopher into the water, David Hughes, told the court that his client was one of the first to jump into the water to try and help.

Questioning the teenage witness, Mr Hughes said they didn't accept that a push happened and suggested that his client had slipped into Christopher.

The teenager said that was possible but added: "My thoughts are it was a push which wasn't meant with any malice but it was more playful."

The court heard that Christopher would have turned 18 two days ago, on 6 January.

The CPS had decided not to bring a charge as it claimed he pushed Christopher as a "foolish prank".

Christopher's family accused the CPS and South Wales Police of institutional racism for not prosecuting the suspect.

When the decision not to charge the 14-year-old was reviewed, Jenny Hopkins, who oversees the appeals and review unit within the CPS, said: "Although there was evidence to support a prosecution for manslaughter it was not in the public interest to prosecute."

The inquest is expected to last for up to two weeks.