A MUM whose son’s murder remains unsolved has called for people to stand up against a website urging witnesses to ‘stop snitching’.
Flyers started appearing last week at a Peckham estate where 17-year-old Sylvester Akapalara was gunned down in a stairwell last December.
The leaflets advertised a website called Stop Snitching and had the message: "No one likes a rat. Remember the police are not your friend."
It told people: "Don't be deceived by promises of anonymity, protection and rewards. They will say and do anything to make you snitch then destroy your life. Be smart, don't snitch."
Three people have so far been charged with the killing, including 18-year-old David Nyamupfukudza of Hundson Road, New Cross.
Ann-Marie Williams’s 24-year-old son Nathan was shot at Ludwick Mews on New Cross' notorious Woodpecker estate in July 2009 in what was believed to be a case of mistaken identity.
The 43-year-old said: “If you don’t stand up, as I’ve always said, this is just going to continue and continue like it has been.
“It’s like a ticking timebomb. If you don’t try to defuse it then its going to explode. Nobody’s safe - young or old, black or white, girls or boys.
“But I think people are being more courageous - they won’t let this intimidation stop them saving their communities.
“In my view it’s the criminals who seem scared now.”
His murder is one of a series of unsolved killings on the Woodpecker in recent years. Just one year after Mr Williams died, another man, Nathan Allen, was killed on the very same road.
Ms Williams, who blames a “wall of silence” for the lack of progress on her son’s case, said: “Looking at that man’s face I thought I was looking at my son again.
“Nathan’s case hasn’t got any further from the day he died. But I’m not giving up. I can only keep pushing people to do the right thing.”
Head of the Met’s Trident unit, which tackles black-on-black gun crime, Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Cundy said: “Disappointingly, we are aware of a small amount of irresponsible leafleting in Southwark.
"Trident receives an incredible amount of vital community support across London. Engaging with us is not snitching but about protecting your community.
"Information from communities is vital to solving murder investigations and we will continue to successfully protect our vulnerable witnesses.”
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