You can't ask us to confront gangs, says stab widow

The widow of a father-of-two who was stabbed to death after challenging a gang today criticised calls to stand up to unruly youths.

Veronique Masosa was speaking after shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said he wanted to end the "walk on by" culture, which sees people afraid to step in to help others in trouble.

Mrs Masosa's husband Stevens Nyembo-Ya-Muteba, 40, was fatally knifed after telling a gang to keep their noise down on his Hackney estate two years ago today. The gang, known as the Holly Street Boys, had terrorised the area for years.

Mrs Masosa said: "It is really difficult for people to stand up against those youngsters. Everyone is afraid of them and it gives them power. I would not encourage somebody to do that because of the dangers. We do have to do something about these people but asking us to stand up to them is not safe."

In a case which has echoes of Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba's death, banking executive Frank McGarahan, 45, died in hospital on Monday after being beaten. The chief operating officer of Barclays Wealth, a father of two, was attacked after attempting to break up a brawl.

"It brings back all those memories again," Mrs Masosa, 31, said. "It is awful. I ask myself, when is this going to stop?" Yesterday Mr Grieve said have-a-go heroes should be protected from prosecution. "No wonder people in this country fear standing up to criminals," he told the Tory party conference. "The fight against crime will not be successful unless the public feel that the law is on their side if they intervene to prevent it."

Mrs Masosa's husband was working as a fork-lift driver and studying for a maths degree in the evening when he was murdered. He had been in the country for 10 years after fleeing the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a better life. He was joined by his wife two years later.

She has been left to bring up the couple's two children Debbie, nine, and six-year-old Sheridan.

Mrs Masosa has joined other victims' families in the anti-knife and gun crime charity Through Unity, which is attempting to stop the violence and provide support for other victim's relatives. She said everyone including the Government, police and charities needed to work together to stop the violence. "For me Through Unity's message to try and stop gun and knife crime appeals to be me because I am a victim," she said.

"Nothing is getting better and it is actually getting worse. We hope things will change so there are no more wasted lives out there. You never get over something like this. I don't want to see a family going through pain like this ever again."

Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba's killer Joseph Ekaette, 19, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in December last year for murder. The court heard residents had complained to police about the gang. When Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba asked them to keep the noise down because he had to get up for work, Ekaette stabbed him twice as the group of up to 15 youths chanted: "Shank him, shank him"

Today the family will be joined by relatives and friends for a candle-light vigil in memory of Mr Nyembo-Ya-Muteba at Hackney Town Hall. Mrs Masosa also intends to launch a charity to support families who have settled in England and become victims of crime.