The Arsenal Foundation has helped fund Islington Legal Advice Centre, whose volunteer lawyers help advise and represent those who cannot afford solicitors’ fees or are finding it difficult to get help elsewhere. Mohammed Hibu tells us how the Centre helped his family after the tragic loss of their daughter, Malika.
“I am 39 and, Malika’s mother Huria is 36. We are originally from Eritrea; we came here to escape the war. I am an Uber driver. My partner Huria lives with our three children in the Crest Buildings development in Islington, beside the Regent’s Canal. Huria is a single mum but we are a close family.
“Malika was five when she drowned in the City Road Basin of the Regents Canal. She was a beautiful, sweet little girl. She had autism and didn’t talk much. She slipped out of the house while the rest of the family were having lunch and ran down to the edge of the canal. You can see her skipping along by herself on the CCTV footage the police collected. We thought she was playing quietly in her room as she had never let herself out of the front door before.
“The Peabody Buildings in which my family live backed on to a section of the canal with broken metal railings that didn’t even stretch the length of the Crest Buildings frontage. There was nothing there to stop Malika falling into the water. We think she may have been leaning through the railings to play with the ducks when she fell in. I can’t bear to think about it.
“When Huria raised the alarm, one of our neighbours spotted her floating in the water and another kind neighbour jumped in to pull her out. It was too late. Residents had complained to Peabody about how unsafe it was, but nothing was done about a barrier. It took Malika’s death for any action to be taken.
“We got a letter from the Coroner’s Officer telling us there was going to be an inquest into Malika’s death, and if we had any particular concerns about how her death had come about we should write to let the Coroner know. We realised we would need some help to prepare for the inquest and put our concerns across.
“When we couldn’t find a solicitor to take our case on, a neighbour who had got help with a legal problem from the Islington Legal Advice Centre suggested we go and speak to them.
“ILAC helped us to understand how the inquest would work. They wrote to the Coroner for us, asking for documents and statements from the Peabody Trust, Islington Council and the Canal & Rivers Trust. We could not have done that without ILAC behind us – we wouldn’t have known where to start.
“ILAC also arranged for a barrister to give up her time to represent us at the inquest and ask the questions we wanted put to the Peabody Trust and Islington Council, and our ILAC adviser attended the inquest with us to explain what was happening and support us.
“We want justice for Malika and safety for other children living along the canal, so they can play outside without being in danger of falling into the water. We don’t want any other families to go through what has happened to us.
“I am an Arsenal supporter and I feel happy and proud to know that my club is doing so much to help the community and support the work done by the Islington Legal Advice Centre.”
**Mohammed’s ILAC advisor, Sarah, tells us about her voluntary work for ILAC…**
“I’ve been working as a solicitor in the Grays Inn Road/Clerkenwell area since 1993 doing predominantly medical negligence work for injured patients.
“The volunteer lawyers at ILAC have been providing free legal advice to the residents of Islington and beyond since the 1970s – there has always been a steady flow of people coming for help but, sadly, it seems that it has become increasingly difficult, especially for those with limited resources, to access the legal advice they need.
“On a personal level, it is very satisfying to be able to help in whatever capacity I can. It might involve rolling up your sleeves to extract documents from the local authority to help prepare a case for a hearing, but often it’s just a matter of explaining in plain English what is meant by a letter that is frightening to receive for someone not used to legal jargon. Our role is often simply to help them to understand the process and draft a reply on their behalf to enable them to feel empowered in the interaction.”
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