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Knife attack victim to sue over way police handled case
 | | The scar on Sebri Oumar's cheek |
A STUDENT left horrifically scarred after he was slashed across the face by a racist gang is planning to sue the police for the way they have handled his case.
Sebri Oumar, 26, of Tabley Road, Holloway, needed 21 stitches in his cheek and neck after he was knifed in an unprovoked attack at the O2 Centre in Greenwich.
He was forced to give up his job, his studies and most of his social life because of severe post traumatic stress disorder - but 14 months on the thugs who knifed him are still walking the streets.
Mr Oumar claims that no-one from Plumstead police station ever contacted him about the investigation and even closed the case last month without telling him.
He has now taken his grievances to the Independent Police Complaints Committee, and his planning to sue the police over his treatment and their alleged failure to properly investigate the attack.
The former Holloway school pupil said: "I'll never forget the pain as the blade went into my jaw and twisted. There was blood everywhere and doctors said it was lucky it missed the main artery or I would have bled to death. But to this day, I have heard nothing from the police.
"The first time I went in to report the attack, the detective referred to my scar as a Mars bar, which was bad enough. But I don't know if they ever arrested anyone.
"I don't know if they looked at the CCTV. I don't know if they investigated the case because I've never seen any paperwork."
The attack happened as Mr Oumar was out celebrating the birthday of a colleague he worked with at Fitness First Holloway. At the time he was also studying for a travel and tourism qualification at the University of the Arts in Elephant and Castle.
Now he is unemployed, registered disabled with Islington Council so he gets private tuition at home and is receiving regular treatment by a psychiatrist.
"I used to go out all the time and have lots of friends but I've become a loner," he said. "I'm anxious about everything I do now. I'm so self conscious that my friends might be joking about something else and I think it's related to my face.
"And when I go for job interviews people think I'm a thug because they associate scars with criminals.
"This is 2010 - people cannot be allowed to get away with this sort of thing. I want justice because the next person might not survive."
Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said: "I have a great deal of sympathy for Sebri. The community needs to understand that gang violence has terrible effects on victims for a long time afterwards.
"The police are good at dealing with victims of domestic violence. It seems when someone like Sebri is a victim of gang violence they don't get the support they deserve."
A spokesman for the IPCC said: "We can confirm Mr Oumar did contact the IPCC regarding a complaint he wished to make.
"He has been directed to the appropriate force, in this case the Metropolitan Police, who will log his complaint and make a decision whether to record it or not.
"If recorded, they will make a decision, in consultation with the complainant, as to how to resolve the matter. The complainant can appeal to the IPCC in the event that the MPS decide not to record his complaint, or he is dissatisfied with an ensuing investigation.
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