Mother’s touching tribute to Northampton university student as his killer is sentenced

Transcript

00:00 So Alfred is a very, very sociable person. He likes to integrate and be mingled with people,

00:07 regardless of who you are. Even though if he hasn't met you before, you kind of come across

00:13 thinking Alfred knows you, because you always want to make people feel warm. I think because

00:19 he was my first son, and it took about over three years before having another one, so we built a

00:27 very, very solid relationship. He was very calm. I didn't even know, though I know him as my son,

00:34 but until his passing and the testimony from people that he was a selfless person, very caring,

00:42 and always stepping in to help people, which is more advocate. He's got very good qualities. One

00:49 of the testimony from one guy to say that there was a time that it was very, very cold, windy,

00:56 and this boy forgot to take his jacket to school, but when they were walking back home, it was raining

01:02 and Alfred had to remove his jacket. When I got the news, I didn't believe it, because it's not

01:10 something that was coming for me to believe that Alfred would die. The shock aspect I still know.

01:15 Yeah, every day I'm shocked. Every day I see people like Alfred. Every day I see people

01:21 dressing like Alfred. The first thought is, "Is it true Alfred is dead?" It looks like no. The

01:28 reality is not there. So when they told me, when I heard that, "Oh, we found Melvin guilty of

01:38 murdering Alfred," I just went on my knees, just praising God for the amazing news. We can't

01:45 appreciate the police enough. They've done an amazing job. Their encouragement, their support,

01:54 I mean, it was amazing. It's very, very difficult, and I think we need to expand our education more

02:02 to the schools, not just only secondary school, because knife crime needs to be targeted from

02:08 primary school. These youth, they don't understand it. They're just thinking, "Oh, it's a self-defense.

02:14 I want to go out to put it on me, so at least if anything happens." But the question is,

02:18 if you don't put it on you, you're not going to kill anybody. I think I'm bringing my Alfred back.

02:24 No, I've lost him forever. And this is the boy that I spent all my life, 19 years,

02:33 raising a child in this country, 19 years. Just one day somebody took the life.

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