Luton mum campaigning for more amnesty bins after her son was fatally stabbed
Ashraf Habimana was 16-year-old when he was murdered in Luton
A mother whose son was murdered is looking to raise £3,000 to install more amnesty bins in Luton, to help “stop anyone else going through the same pain”.
Luton has almost twice the amount of recorded knife crime incidents compared to any other local authority in Bedfordshire, according to exclusive figures obtained by Greatest Hits Radio news team.
The statistics also show that recorded knife crime in the town has been rising by around 5% year-on-year since 2023.
Fiona Namusoke’s son, Ashraf Habimana was stabbed on 29 September 2023 when she was on her way to pick him up from college.
“When I got out of the car, the ambulance was closing its doors. So, I said this is my child, this is my baby, can I go into the ambulance? But they wouldn't let me.
“For some reason, my heart said he was not going to make it”, she told Greatest Hits Radio.
Once Fiona arrived at the hospital, doctors told her, “We've tried everything, Ash couldn't make it”.
“I begged them, I said, please try, maybe he's still alive. And when I saw Ash, he was in a pool of blood, there was blood everywhere. I'll never forget that scene.”
Since Ash’s passing, Fiona says she is putting all of her energy into the Ashraf Habimana foundation which was set up in her son’s memory.
She says she is determined to help tackle knife crime and create something that gives ‘meaning, safety and hope to others’.
Her aim is to raise £3,000 which would fund three amnesty bins across the town, with the first aimed to be placed in Marsh Farm.
Just over £800 has been raised so far througha crowdfunding campaign.
Currently there are 11 knife amnesty bins across Bedfordshire but Fiona hopes having more of them, especially in Luton, will encourage people to dispose their knives.
Fiona said: “People do bad things at the hype of anger and maybe they could change their mind and put that knife in an amnesty bin there they use it.”
She adds that “many teenagers these days who would come out of the house with a knife and then they're scared to throw the knife anywhere, but if there was an amnesty bin they could dispose that knife safely.”
“It will prevent a mother, or a relative, or a friend, going through what I'm going through.”