Knife Fever, Knife Fever

In the vast urban metropolis that we call London, it is what 8.6 million people currently call their home. With any major city, there is unavoidably always going to be a considerable amount of crime. Recently, there is one crime that stands out in particular, this is the increase of youth related knife crime. This year so far has already seen the fatal stabbings of 5 teenagers in London alone.

One local Islington man who has dealt with this tragic crime first hand is Michael Salas Aira. Feeling ill, and finishing work in a local restaurant on a late February evening in 2014, my guess would be that the then 20-year-old definitely did not foresee himself lying in a hospital bed in the Royal London Hospital attached to various machines. Now 21, and over a year later, I speak to him about the ordeal. He begins to explain the night in question. Hesitant at first, but continuously prompted by his then 16-year-old cousin to accompany him down to a party to assure him arriving safely, he eventually agreed. Upon arrival, he catches wind of the situation between 4 present party guests with an unfavourable relationship between them and his cousin, who are carrying a knife stolen from the property of the party. An argument develops, and in the midst of chaos defending his underage cousin, Michael becomes the victim to a brutal neck stabbing.

Lifting his head to show me his scar, he tells me despite his injuries, he doesn’t regret what he did that night. It was a natural reaction to protect someone he loved. Aside from not receiving his clothes worn on the night back from evidence yet, he expresses his only disappointment with the situation by telling me that the man charged with the stabbing received 24 months rehabilitation, a tag on his ankle, anger classes, and a curfew. “Essentially, a slap on the wrist, then he’s free to go, like nothing ever happened”. He sadly suggests that as much as a person can preach the dangers of knife crime, it will not make any difference. Emily Thornberry, local Labour MP for Islington, who previously spent many years as a criminal barrister, tells me that “what always struck me was the way so many young people caught up in knife crime simply lacked awareness of the power they had to take someone’s life away in a second – that they could change their own life, and end someone else’s, before they even knew it.

Michaels experience is one that reminds us how important life is. With newspaper stories about stabbings in the cities boroughs becoming so regular, it’s sad to think of it as a common occurrence. London authorities must really seize an initiative to combat the rising figures of this disturbing and horrifying crime. Mayor Boris Johnson said the figure of our “best big city on the planet” was predicted to reach 11m by 2050. It terrifies me to think, with a growing urban population divided by means of power and wealth, will this also probably mean a further increase in knife crime and culture.