Kristenvi-Tshiaka Tshioei died in 2007.

Tottenham mother makes desperate plea after second attack on son’s grave

by Tim Lamden Friday, September 7, 2012
7:00 AM

A distraught mother has made a desperate appeal for information to help catch vandals who desecrated her five-year-old son’s grave for the second time in just two years.

Beatrice T Wawa, 49, of Wiltshire Gardens, South Tottenham, visited the grave of her son Kristenvi-Tshiaka Tshioei at Tottenham Cemetery in White Hart Lane on August 19 and found all the toys beside the headstone had been broken, as well as a vase containing flowers.

She said: “I came from the church to the grave and saw they had smashed everything. I think they had tried to pull the metal gate loose from the cement.

“This is the second time they’ve damaged my son’s grave. He is an angel, he hasn’t done anything to anyone.

“I’m not feeling well, my heart is not good. All my children are very upset.

“They need to respect the death of my son. He is innocent.”

The latest attack follows an incident in 2010 when the marble headstone of the grave was set alight and completely destroyed.

The mother-of-two, who lost her son in 2007 to natural causes, says that after the first incident, she was told that CCTV in the cemetery was not working at the time and had failed to capture the vandals at work.

This time the cameras were working, but the culprits have yet to be identified by police, who continue to investigate.

Appealing to the local Congolese community, Ms Wawa said: “I want to know who did this, I need to know. If anyone knows who did this, they need to tell me.”