Metropolitan Police missed five chances to save the lives of vulnerable teenager girl, who “fell on a blade” she had in her bag when her controlling and abusive boyfriend pushed her.
Katrina Makunova, 17, died outside a block of flats in Camberwell, south London, following a row with her then partner on July 12, 2018.
The Met officers failed to investigate domestic abuse reports, even though they were called on several occasions to her house in the months before her death. They also treated additional allegations of domestic abuse as an “isolated incident” when she went to a station to verify them, according to a report.
Oluwaseyi Dada 21, pleaded guilty for manslaughter. In January 2019, he was sentenced with a two year term in jail.
The Met has been criticized for their handling of this case in a prevent of future deaths report published on Friday.
Andrew Harris, Senior Coroner, says that the force did not investigate Katrina’s past and current association with gangsters and was therefore never able to determine if it was a threat to her safety.
Harris also highlighted five instances in which Katrina made contact with police prior to her passing.
Katrina Makunova (17 years old) died after she fell on a 17 cm knife that she carried in her handbag. She had become increasingly cautious of her partner.
Oluwaseyi Dada, 21, admitted to the murder of Ms Makunova in Southwark Crown Court, January 2019.
At the end of an inquest held at London Inner South Coroner’s Court, September 8, a jury delivered a “long narrative” verdict.
Katrina was found guilty of a pattern involving abuse, coercion, and controlling behavior. This included violence and threats to her friends and family.
Boyfriend Dada was also known to carry and show a knife right in front of her teenager. This left her feeling isolated, scared, and depressed.
In the end, she started carrying a knife.
The row broke out outside Brisbane Street in Camberwell. After the teenager, 5ft 4,ins fell to the sword of her handbag (17 cm), the Dada, 6ft3ins was pushing the girl.
The victim was being given CPR by Dada, paramedics arrived on the scene.
Katrina, due to past traumas and experiences as well as her age, was at an “increased risk for contextual harm”
Also, her vulnerability made it more difficult to communicate with local authorities.
Five incidents were identified by the coroner between February 2018 and July 2018. However, her vulnerability wasn’t considered when the Met did risk assessments.
Before her death, Ms Makunova suffered from a controlling and coercive relationship with her abusive boyfriend.
February 6, 2018
Dada took Katrina’s cell phone and allowed him to manage her communications. However, this was not recognized.
February 13, 2018,
Katrina was called by police to report that she had described and the police found ‘clear instances of coercion’.
But, Dada was not released from police custody and the police didn’t take any protective measures.
July 11, 2018.
Katrina’s house was called by police. However, the Met did not manage to properly assess her situation.
Also, there were failures in investigating domestic abuse allegations and in providing effective safeguarding. No Merlin reports were sent.
The Met maintains a Merlin report, which is a database that contains information about children who are known to police. It can be used to store any kind of information from bullying victims to those present during property searches. Katrina was 17 years old when she became a juvenile.
June 23, 2018
Katrina was again summoned by police to her home. However, they failed to recognize that there were criminal harassment allegations and did not record it as a crime.
It was also not possible to correctly assess, manage and record the risks. No ‘booklet124 D’ (a domestic abuse form) was submitted. Another failure was to protect Katrina, as no Merlin reports were sent.
June 27, 2018
After a dispute Katrina, Dada went to Walworth’s police station.
However, the high number of cases led to delays in implementing directions for community safety unit supervisors.
Although there were previous claims, the incident was not considered to be urgent.
Another failure by the Met to investigate allegations of domestic abuse was admitted. There were also failings to provide sufficient safeguarding as no Merlin report had been sent.
Makunova, 17 years, was found outside Camberwell’s block of flats with just one knife injury.
Harris identified some areas of concern in his report that needed to be addressed in order to avoid future deaths.
He explained that although significant measures have been taken since the death to detect contextual abuse by organizations, the issue remains. Police officers knew of the perpetrator’s wearing of a knife.
“Possession” of a knife wasn’t recognized by risk assessments. It was also not recorded in all cases by the police or social services. Also, it was not clear from the police evidence whether gang affiliation should have been explored or when it would become a danger.
“Those close to Katrina knew about her past and present associations with gang members. But this, too, never appears to have been identified and investigated by police.
Her brother and another witness provided evidence that she didn’t disclose her controlling behaviour to police because of her fear for his harm.
While he acknowledged that the Met’s Child Safety Units are under significant workload, he expressed concern at the court-presented data showing the force might not have the capacity to create a workforce with sufficient resources.
According to the coroner, university professors should provide evidence based on expert opinion about whether knives can be used in domestic abuse risk assessments.
He has also asked the Met and the Mayor’s Office to consider whether staffing of Child Support Units needs to be increased to ‘enable proper risk assessment and safeguarding’.