Heartbroken mum of knife victim Kelyan opens up after son was targeted by gangs aged 6 and murdered at 14
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FROM the age of six, Kelyan Bokassa was preyed on by gang members who recruited him into their drug-filled world despite his mum Mary’s battle to keep him safe. Today Mary has told how she would track him down to park benches in the middle of the night and beg him to come home — but he was too scared his handlers would kill him.
![[Photo of Kelyan, a 14-year-old schoolboy.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/first-photo-14-year-old-962374017-1.png?strip=all&w=409)
Kelyan, 14, was stabbed to death on a bus in Woolwich, south London, in broad daylight on Tuesday. Former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, MBE, who set up the Ben Kinsella Trust (benkinsella.org.uk) to help battle knife crime after her brother Ben was stabbed to death while celebrating his GCSEs in 2008, said: “Kelyan never stood a chance.
![[Police at a crime scene near a bus after a fatal stabbing.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-london-uk-police-guard-962217765_950af0.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
"As many as 200,000 young people could be entangled in gangs.”. And Mary, 50, fought back tears, as she recalled the day she always dreaded — but knew would come. Overlooking the O2 Arena from her balcony — where just a few weeks ago her son had scrawled “I love you mum” on the wall — she tells the Sun on Sunday: “I tried to prevent it.
![[Grieving mother crying.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/copyright-peter-jordan-commissioned-sun-962377173.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
“I screamed. I said, ‘My son is going to be killed’.”. Throughout her home are photos of the “polite” boy who loved to cook, smiling and playing. There are awards too, displayed on her living room wall, which showed he excelled in English lessons.
![[Photo of Kelyan Bokassa and his mother.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/84092062-91f8-4c32-aa7b-6ec7303fa97f_bf750b.jpg?strip=all&w=707)
Four years ago he was taken into care but was, she says, so miserable that he would run away. She took legal action to get him back without success. Mary, originally from the Central African Republic, moved to London from France where she had Kelyan and brought him up on her own.
