A Croydon councillor demanded real action over the scourge of knife crime and attacks on women and girls when she addressed the Labour Party Conference this week.
Conference speaker: Stella Nabukeera impressed with her passionate speech
“I do not want to stand in the street another time looking at another family destroyed,” said South Norwood councillor Stella Nabukeera.
“It’s our time to do something about this!” she said in an impassioned speech during a debate about VAWG – Violence Against Women and Girls.
“Thousands of people were in the streets saying ‘Do something!’
“Labour Party! Conference! It’s our time to do something about this.”
Nabukeera called for prison sentences to be “severe”. She said: “Let’s make examples of the people who do this. Let it be something that will not be repeated.
“I do not want to stand in the street another time looking at another family destroyed.
“I spent a whole week talking to families and parents of the children that witnessed that.
“I remember one mother who said, ‘My daughter hasn’t said anything for five days. She was on the bus. She saw this person attack her friend’.
Murdered in the street: Elianne Andam
“Conference, that cannot be right. We have to do something.
Nabukeera called for the discussions on violent crime to be extended beyond “just the normal people who work with different charities”, saying: “Let’s invite in the victims, let’s invite people who have been affected. So that when we come up with a solution, it’s solving something.”
In her unscripted response to a conference motion, Nabukeera said of violence against women and girls: “We need to speak about it. We need to speak about it in our communities.
“Expose the behaviours that we allow to continue, because if we do not expose them, they will attack our children going to school.”
Read more: Teenager is to stand trial for murder at Old Bailey next April
Read more: Starmer’s Labour conference left lots of unanswered questions
Listen to our podcast: 7 killings in 6 months: Croydon Insider on the lasting tragedies
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I feel for this powerful, emotional, response. What exactly does she want? And who does she want to do whatever that is? I feel her comments are aimed at those in the communities most affected who might be scared to act or speak out which gets us into a difficult area.