Court upholds CPS Christopher Kapessa river death charge decision

The High Court has upheld the Crown Prosecution Service's decision not to charge a 14-year-old boy who allegedly caused another teenager's death.

Christopher Kapessa, 13, was reportedly pushed into the River Cynon in Rhondda Cynon Taf in 2019.

Police found evidence he was pushed, but the CPS decided not to prosecute the boy, prompting a legal challenge by Alina Joseph, Christopher's mother.

Monday's decision was dubbed a "painful blow" for Christopher's family.

At a judicial review hearing at the High Court earlier this month, the CPS's decision was described by the family's barrister, Michael Mansfield QC, as "unreasonable or irrational".

He said Christopher and his family were "relatively new" to Mountain Ash and were a black family living in a predominantly white area.

The CPS denied that race played any part in its decision, which was claimed by Christopher's mother, who moved her family to the area in 2012.

Its lawyers argued Ms Joseph's challenge should be dismissed.

They said specialist prosecutor Moira MacDaid concluded after a review the decision not to charge the suspect with manslaughter was correct.

Ms MacDaid had considered all relevant evidence with "scrupulous fairness", they said.

In a statement, Ms Joseph said: "I am not driven to seek justice because I am grief stricken or because of personal vendetta.

"I am purely seeking justice according to the law because the law tells me that I have the right to fair treatment, what is morally right and so I seek to understand what exactly happened to my son.

"To date, I nor my family have been given the opportunity. We need answers and deserve them without delay."

A judicial review is a procedure that allows anyone who has been affected by a decision or a failure to act by a public authority to apply to the courts to rule whether those actions were lawful or not.

'Friends jumped in to help'

In the ruling Lord Justice Popplewell said on the day in question Christopher was one of about 16 friends playing in an area known as the Red Bridge over the Cynon river.

Some were jumping in the water, others were chatting.

Christopher was "prevaricating" about jumping in. A boy was then "seen to push him in the back, causing him to fall into the river", the judge wrote.

His friends jumped in to help him, but "they were unable to assist him as he kept pulling them under water in panic, and tragically he drowned", he wrote.

In an interview with the CPS the suspect admitted he knew Christopher was not good at swimming, the written decision states.

The CPS concluded the suspect, referred to as Q, would have appreciated the risk to Christopher as he had said in interview he considered the risks before he himself jumped in.

But it concluded: "What Q did can be described as a prank, he was clearly just messing about."

Lord Justice Popplewell and Mr Justice Dove agreed to dismiss the application and concluded the original decision not to charge was correct.

In their decision, they said that there were a number of considerations against a prosecution, including the age of the suspect at the time, the lack of pre-meditation, the lack of previous convictions or cautions, the detrimental effect on the suspect's future prospects and the unlikely nature of repeat offending.

Lord Justice Popplewell stated "the factors militating against a prosecution in this case outweigh the factors in favour of a prosecution".

Ms Joseph's solicitor, Daniel Cooper, said the High Court decision was "very disappointing".

"We are considering the judgement and will decide with her on the next steps," he said.

Supporters of the family campaign lit candles outside the hearing last week to remember Christopher, who would have turned 16 earlier this month.

Suresh Grover, coordinator of the Justice Campaign, described the decision as a "cruel blow".

"The alarm bells have been rung forcing us to redouble our efforts to support Alina's quest for justice," he said.

The CPS's appeals and review unit head, Sarah Boland, called Christopher's death "an awful tragedy".

"Following an appeal under our victims' right to review scheme we upheld an earlier decision that it was not in the public interest to bring a prosecution," she said.

"Today's judgment has shown the decision taken by the CPS was lawful."

Cynon Valley MP, Beth Winter, said the decision marked "a missed opportunity" for the truth to be heard.

"The family must feel they have been let down again and again by our justice system," she said.

"That again and again, too little value is being placed on Christopher's life."