HUSH - Book - Page 20
HUSH – Breaking the Silence | Victim Support Scotland
It happened at 12:30am. I got woken up by my mum. It was a
shout to say my brother had been stabbed. I woke up and I
just put my clothes on and went to my gran's house, but
they weren't hurrying enough so I just went quicker, and I
was in front of them in the car. When we were going round,
we got stopped by the police. I saw a police car with someone in it. At the time I didn't know how serious it was. It was
all happening so quick, but it all felt so slow... I looked at the
policeman and I said, “Who's that? Is that my brother?” He
was going, “Just go. Just go away.” I'm like, “I need to know
who that is, so I know if my brother's fine, because he's
been hurt.”
Then I look in the car and there is this person looking at
me, and it is him, the person that did it, the accused,
because I know him... we all knew him. He was sloped back,
and I just remember seeing his eyes, like evil, with a glazed
look. He was lying back, but then he was coming towards
us, trying to get out. The police couldn't restrain him, so
they were waiting on a van to come. I understand now why
they were telling me to go, but I didn't know at the time.
I got back in my car. We were confused as to what had
happened, but then I could see clothes in the distance, and
it was my brother's clothes. They were just in a pile. And you
could see some medical equipment on the ground. The
police o cers were treating us as if we were just nosey
neighbours, telling us to “Just go away.” Even though we
were telling them, “That's my brother.” Then just at that
moment the lead police o cer shouted really loudly, “We
are closing off the street. Everyone leave.”
I knew what that meant. I knew but I wasn't letting my
mum know that. I wasn't crying. I was trying to be brave for
my mum and gran. We were getting told to leave, they said,
“Get off the street.” And what do you do when a police o cer tells you this? You do what you are told. Even though
there were loads of people around us we just felt
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completely in the dark. But we were doing what we were
told. We were going to the hospital.
It was weird at the hospital. A Friday night going into a
Saturday morning should have been really busy and yet it
was empty, completely. Nobody there. It was about 1:20am
and the doctor came in. It's hard, because I don't remember
that part, just the wails of my mum and my gran. I didn't cry.
I couldn't process it. He just said he was really sorry but
there was nothing they could do. We kept on asking questions, and he said because it was a police matter, they
couldn't tell us a thing.
People kept on saying, “The court case will give you all
the answers.” It was that promise of, “You'll know later on.
You'll know later on.”
We got that news in the middle of the night, and by
10:00am that morning we were viewing and identifying
him.
My brother was taken from the hospital to the morgue.
We were taken there by the liaison o cers. They were
great. They did tell us beforehand a little brief of what
would happen. It would be a screen with a video camera on
top for the face. The picture comes up in the fourth second,
then you put your hand up to say, or you nod, yes. Then you
ask to put it down.
‘The police o cers were treating
us as if we were just nosey
neighbours, telling us to “Just go
away.” Even though we were telling
them, “That’s my brother.”’