It has now been two months since 21-year-old Cheriff Tall and 36-year-old Abayomi Ajose, who was affectionately known to friends and family as Junior, were both brutally killed in Moss Side after being shot on Caythorpe Street.
To mark the anniversary, Cheriff’s mum Suwaidu, has written an open letter in the hope that people with information come forward and help the police get justice for her son and Junior.
“To the community of Moss Side,
I never thought I would be in this position, I never thought my son would pass away before me. I never thought I would be asking the public and my community for help in finding my son’s murderer. However, this is my reality.
Those who truly knew Cheriff knew he was a family orientated young man. You know he loved, and was loved by his brothers and sisters. You know he respected his dad and you all know the special bond he had with me.
Since my boys murder, I have stopped living and am only existing. The pain I feel and our family feels knowing we won’t hear his voice as he comes through the door or see him again is sometimes too much to bear. Losing Cheriff has left me broken and my family distraught.
I know from the community that Cheriff was popular amongst his friends “loyal” is a word I have heard used to describe him often. Our community has expressed its grief at this senseless act and the support of his friends and the community has been a comfort to me and his dad.
However, I am asking for the help of our community now, I am asking for the help again….
Please come forward and tell the police what you know. I know there were people there that night who saw what happened, I know there were people there who will be frightened by what they saw, by what happened to my son and Aby. I know it must be hard to see what you did and even harder to tell the police, but please, for the sake of our families tell the police what you know.
(To the mums in my community, please, speak to your sons, speak to your daughters….what would you do if you were me? Help them find the courage to speak to police, support them if they want to do the right thing. Our children need to learn that it is ok to “talk” sometimes) – To the parents in my community, please support them if they want to do the right thing.
We want the police to bring those involved in these killings to justice and to bring peace to both our families. We need the help of the community, of Cheriffs community to do it.
To the people protecting and hiding these cowards, what would you do if it was your son, your brother, your husband?? Please do the right thing.”
It has now been two months since 21-year-old Cheriff Tall and 36-year-old Abayomi Ajose, who was affectionately known to friends and family as Junior, were both brutally killed in Moss Side after being shot on Caythorpe Street.
To mark the anniversary, Abayomi’s wife Lola, has written an open letter in the hope that people with information come forward and help the police get justice for her husband and Cheriff.
“Dear the community of Moss Side,
I could never imagine myself in this position, asking the public to help find my husband’s murderer. However, this is now my reality.
I am asking the community to help bring the person or people responsible for Junior’s murder to justice. I am pleading for anyone who was there on the night who saw anything to come forward and speak to the police.
Junior was a go getter. If he wasn’t working, he always made sure he had some sort of task he had to get done, whether it was helping someone out or doing something with the family. He was the life of the party at gatherings and he couldn’t bear to see anyone sad or with a frown on their face. Junior always knew the right things to say to anyone who asked him for advice or ideas.
As a father, Junior was a very hands on Dad. His children adored him and looked up to him tremendously. Junior would do anything for his children and they always came first above everything. The love he had for his kids was like no other.
As a husband Junior was the best man any woman would wish for. I never had a bad word to say about him as he was my world, my rock and my protector.
The hole Junior has left since we lost him is massive. Every day is a painful reminder of how much we all miss him being around. He was a major part of our family and that will never be replaced. We are all finding it so hard to come to terms with his loss, his children especially as they are still very young.
Junior was a phenomenal husband, father, godfather, son in law, brother, son, cousin and friend. His death has drastically affected the whole family. My Dad and his Dad have been in and out of hospital since the tragedy.
The house where Junior lived with myself and our 3 beautiful children feels so insecure and anxiety issues have arisen in the family as we are finding it difficult to deal with. It’s so hard for me now as I am a single mother having to be the mother and father to our children. I never imagined I would be a widow at such a young age.
To the people/person who did this, I have no doubt you have to live day in day out looking over your shoulder, knowing that karma will bite you twice as hard. You must not understand what you have caused. You have destroyed families and taken the life of an extremely hard working, well-loved man. You can’t do something like this and expect to be okay within. I don’t understand how you can live with what you have done.”
