Idris Elba expressed his sympathy to the family of schoolgirl Elianne Andam, as he demanded “tougher deterrents and punishments” to be applied to people who carry weapons.
On her way to school on Wednesday, the 15-year-old was fatally stabbed in the neck with a foot-long knife in Croydon, south London.
A 17-year-old guy who was apprehended later and who knew the victim is currently being questioned by police.
“Sending my condolences to the family of Elianne Andam at this very sad time,” the actor Elba, a London native, wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday.
“It is a shame that our country still mourns the deaths of children at the hands of knives. We NEED to enforce tougher deterrents and punishments to carrying these weapons.”
The Wire and Luther actor Idris Elba has already denounced knife crime and offered his support to people who are touched by it.
He spoke on his background in east London’s Hackney during a youth event hosted by the We Day UK charity in 2020, explaining that some residents of his neighborhood “went down the wrong path, ended up doing the wrong thing” and that he grew up amid violence, poverty, and gangs.
He and former football player Ian Wright led a campaign last year to demand an end to slaughter after 30 adolescents “died senselessly” in homicides in the city in 2021.
They were promoting the expansion of youth-oriented venues as part of the “No More Red” effort, which may provide an alternative to gang violence.
Earlier on Thursday, the British prime minister expressed his horror and disgust over Elianne’s passing and argued for tougher punishments for crimes involving knives.
“Everyone will be looking at that and be shocked as I am, appalled by what’s happened, and, quite frankly, angry,” Rishi Sunak told Tim Donovan, political editor of BBC London. It only serves to emphasize how crucial it is to crack down on knife crime.
Additionally, he stated to the broadcaster that it is important to him that those who commit “the most heinous crimes” spend the rest of their lives in prison.
