Zara Aleena

[JoyBeorge]

Unless I've missed it, this sentencing seemed to pass without even a mention on here. AIBU to wonder why this Man was even on the streets, freed from prison just a week before he committed such an unthinkable heinous crime against a lone female?

news.sky.com/story/zara-aleena-serial-offender-sentenced-to-minimum-of-38-years-for-brutal-murder-of-law-graduate-as-she-walked-home-12767756

The non report of other women he followed and frightened that night is also a sign of how much we are taught to put up with stuff, how a man being frightening in the street at night is seen as part of nightlife. If the culture is that we belittle warning signs and women don't feel they have the right to make an immediate fuss, then it's very hard to see patterns. This man had a pattern, Sarah Everard's killer had a pattern, men who kill their partners have a pattern.

Plus he was recalled to prison in the days before he murdered Zara.

There are loads of things we can learn from her murder and should be trying to change. These men don't act in a vacuum that society has no capacity to control or mitigate better.

This case is so sad and my heart goes out to her family. That brute should never be released and I hope that he rots in prison
RIP to a beautiful lady, another victim in a wicked world.
Absolutely horrific

Exactly. This then runs the risk of the dock officers getting injured as well as there been a high likelihood of the offender screaming and shouting throughout the sentencing remarks.

The man had 28 previous convictions. There ought to come a point where we say "he's clearly not going to reform, let's just lock him up to give society some respite".

Yes but which law would that come under? We need a new one creating to enforce that

Sounds a bit like the old IPP to me….

I don't know how you'd enforce it. But it is surely the ultimate fuck you to the victim's family to refuse to appear to hear your sentence.

I can understand why her family are so upset

He also refused to attend court throughout. Many do unfortunately

It's their right to not attend, frustrating,a bit like the 'no comment' interviews

Another woman failed by a justice system and an evil misogynistic man.

The cowardly scum wasn't in court for the hearing or his sentencing apparently.

Heartbreaking for those who loved Zara Aleena.

@Clymene's articles. Why was this man's behaviour not enough to have him on a tag? It's heartbreaking to read about Zara and the Judge was shown on TV condemning him for not appearing in court for the sentencing hearing.

I'm in my mid 70's and we were brought up to take care coming home, we got taxis. My walk to my dsis home would have been the route Sarah Everard took and I used to drive it. Women are still unsafe. We need to start from age 5 to educate children about respect for each other and eradicating bullying.

@Ohtheweatheroutsideistoocold is bang on the money. He had an escalating pattern of violence against people of both sexes including inside prison and should not have been out on licence. Systematic failure is the issue here.

There is various criteria to be met in order to tag someone…..plus they can be cut off.

The comments from a post about going to court (presumably from a previous case) about a year ago are very illuminating. Lots of "good luck", "hope it goes well" etc.

Then 24 weeks ago, his arrest was reported. Among the comments was this:

This disgusting vile human has always been a predator. I spent 4 years with him from the age of 14 to 18.. I went through hell with him and anyone commenting advising they didn't know he was like this is Bullshit. He was a nasty vile peice of work. Everyone knew it, and turned a blind eye! The lot of his family! Minus 1 auntie who actually helped me! The photo evidence of what he had done to me was plastered all over Facebook for people to see back in 2011! And is reported on file. There will never be enough justice for zara and she did not deserve to die at his hands! But if i can help in anyway. Thats what i will do! The police have massively failed! I am as are many other girls very lucky to be here!

Perhaps if his relatives hadn't stood by him when he was first accused of domestic violence, Zara might be alive today. It's a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless.

We understand that there are various criteria that need to be met in order to tag someone

We are calling out the fact that it is a systemic failure of the justice system to release someone, and release them untagged, when they have shown us again and again that they have a propensity for violent behaviour

There was never any question of whether this man would be violent again. that's blatantly obvious from his behaviour before and during his time in prison

Surely if anyone fits the criteria to either not be released (because he has continued to commit crimes whilst in prison) or to be tagged on released its him. And if he doesn't fit the criteria then the criteria is not fit for purpose

You make an excellent point. A collusive family can be very hard to overcome.

@Ohtheweatheroutsideistoocold you are preaching to the converted here. To be absolutely fair though, maybe he was tagged - we don’t know as there is yet to be the enquiry. As I said to a poster up thread, people on determinate sentences WILL come out at a set point and that is an issue for the sentencing Judge. There is nothing anyone can do about that.

From my understanding none of the women he harassed, groped and followed that night reported him to the police. In an interview Zara's aunt refers to that saying there is a gap in relations between the community and the police if people are not reporting these things. My guess would be that is because they know nothing would happen anyway, even if they did report it. As easily as they could have saved her by calling the police that night, in equal measure they are probably also feeling lucky to be alive themselves right now.

That's a fair point, I don't actually know for certain where he was tagged or not

That's the thing isn't it, he's had a negative impact on so many people's lives

Not just Zara and her family but all those women he followed will be traumatised, feel scared to go out and possible even feel a sense of survivors guilt that they escaped and Zara didn't

One stupid, cruel, nasty man just ploughing through people's lives with no regard for anyone except himself.

Indeed. It paints a grim and horrific picture. There are young girls in Ilford who will without doubt realise they were going to be his victim that night and managed to evade him. It's possible they don't realise who was following them that night, perhaps they do now and have since contacted the police. The cctv footage of the girl sprinting to her house to escape him is chilling. What you don't see on camera (and was mentioned in court) is that he didn't realise she went into a house and started searching behind parked cars and in a nearby alley looking for her. It was only after he couldn't find her that he went back to the main road to look for another victim. Even more frightening is the reality that he is just one of many. As long as there are others walking the streets among us, this won't be the last tragedy.

Well yes, obviously.

In the same act we could look to properly penalise misconduct in prisons.

Then the criteria need changing. Anyone out in the community while still serving their sentence should have one. Stiff penalties for tampering them and a wire around the inside which will send out an alert if broken.

The biggest issue with your suggestions is the chronic lack of staff to make this happen. There is endless talk about the NHS, but prisons and probation have been absolutely hammered over the last few years one way or the other. Unfortunately, nobody cares about that enough to make any noise, even when incidents like this one happen.

@DdraigGoch we DO properly penalise misconduct in prison though

It's completely heartbreaking. RIP Zara.

Women really have been collateral damage in the underfunding of the justice system and policing.