Tom Kirwan: Stab victim’s sister says treat knives like guns
Carrying a knife should be considered the same as carrying a gun, the sister of stab victim Tom Kirwan has said.
Martine Johnson, aged 34, also called for something to be done to stop knife crime, five years after her brother Tom was stabbed to death outside the former Uberra nightclub in Wolverhampton.
Twenty-six-year-old Tom was engaged and had just bought his first house when he was killed in what the family describes as a ‘random act of evilness’ on July 8 2012.
Now Ms Johnson has called for knife crime and gun crime to be considered the same – and to carry the same punishment too.
She said: “Knife crime is getting worse. We said back when Tom was killed that we would not ever want someone to have to go through what we did.
“But I have lost count how many people have lost loved ones because of knifes since then.
“There needs to be something put in place to stop knife crime. If you carry a gun you get five years in prison and it should be the same for carrying a knife.
“But it’s not, it’s a slap on the wrist. You only carry a knife for one reason and that is to use it.
“You do not feel the same responsibility for holding a knife as you do a gun. Youths these days feel this and it is so easy with knives just available in the home.”
Speaking about her brother, she added: “Tom had everything going for him.
“He was turning into a young man with his whole life in front of him. He was engaged and he had bought his first home and it was all snatched away for something so trivial.
“It was a random act of evilness.
“The day after he would have been celebrating my birthday with me – instead every year I have to go and visit his grave.
“We have got different mothers so we were brought up in different homes but he was still my baby brother and I babysat him nearly every weekend.
“I remember getting him his first teddy from the supermarket after he was born to go into his incubator.
“I have had a son since (Brandon, 12) and he was born on the same day as Tom. It’s hard as there’s always a reminder there.
“He was such a fun, happy-go-lucky chap with world in front of him. But he will never be a dad and a husband now and for what?
“One day we will get justice and it will never go away until the whole world knows.
“Murder cases do not close they go cold until they get re-looked at it. Well after five years Tom’s murder is due to be re-looked at.
“He will never be forgotten. I do not care how much they have moved on with their lives, one day this will catch up with the person or people who did this and the family will not rest until it does.
“The £15,000 reward is still there and the family is still fighting.”
Last month the Express & Star revealed that knife crime across the West Midlands has nearly doubled in just two years.
There were 654 knife crimes recorded between October and December last year – around seven a day – compared to 388 in the same period in 2014. This is an increase of 68.5 per cent.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, which holds West Midlands Police to account, has admitted knife crime ‘presents a problem’ in the region but says it has taken steps to tackle it.
Assistant PCC Ashley Bertie said: “The West Midlands remains a safe place to live and visit.
“However, the rise in knife crime presents a problem here, as it does across the country, and it is something that we are working hard to address.
“We are funding knife bins across the region and are committed to increasing the number in the Black Country so that every borough has at least one.
“Weapon surrender bins give people a safe way to dispose of weapons and get them off the streets.”
