Renell Charles: Emotional last messages of teen stabbed with machete outside school gates
Video report by ITV London's Rags Martel
The last words of a boy stabbed to death with a machete outside school gates in Walthamstow have been revealed by his mentor.
Renell Charles, 16, a pupil at Kelmscott School in Walthamstow, east London, was killed last Friday.
It happened close to the school on Markhouse Road shortly after the end of the day, and was witnessed by other students and passers-by.
ITV News can reveal the victim raised alarm bells with a mentor he had been working with in the months before his death, telling him he "was trapped in a cycle", and that he "really wanted to get out".
On the afternoon of the attack Kay Rufai said he was given the devastating news about Renell's death by one of his distraught teachers.
"I was distraught and devastated when I heard [about Renell's death] his teacher sent me an email after it happened and it said 'call me - I have some bad news about Renell'," Kay Rufai said.
"He was fatally stabbed and he did not make it, he died on the spot. I broke into tears.
"Renell was probably one of the most intelligent boys I ever met," he added.
Before Renell was killed, he was filmed by Kay last September as part of a London youth project, the S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Project.
Kay added: "The project was created because I recognised that black boys are not given the humanity that every other child is given.
"That's from the education system which you think about disproportionate exclusion rates, black boys are currently about four times more likely to be excluded.
"And when you think about stop and search in London those numbers are consistent and rising I think about 9.5 times more likely than any other race to be stopped.
"I wanted to create a project that worked with young black boys particularly to improve their mental wellbeing and help them explore narratives around their own identity and challenge the mentality that society holds of black boys which was a one dimensional narrative.
"Renell Charles was a leader and the main thing he chose to do a lot of people would follow."
Kay said it was "powerful" listening to Renell's video now saying he felt inspired because he had left a legacy for everyone to follow.
"It was like he was setting a template for all the young boys around him - to be something different and authentic, to be our real self - he is that leader he is that child who has the ability to have a foresight," he explained.
A post-mortem examination identified two particularly significant injuries – a fatal wound to the chest and a deep stab to the back.
A 16-year-old youth, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, walked into Forest Gate police station on May 8 and was later charged with murder.
On Thursday, he appeared at the Old Bailey for a preliminary hearing by video link from Feltham Young Offenders Institute.
Judge Nigel Lickley set a timetable for the case with a plea hearing on July 27 and a provisional 10-day trial from January 22 2024.
Setting out the allegation, he told the defendant: “The facts of this case as described by the prosecution are that you in the middle of the afternoon on May 5 armed with a machete got out of a taxi and attacked Renell Charles who had just left his school in Walthamstow.”
The defendant was further remanded into custody.
Previously, headteacher Sam Jones said the attack marked the “darkest of days” for the school community, adding: “A Kelmscott student was tragically killed in a senseless knife attack.
“Kelmscott is a large and tight-knit family and this loss will be felt for a long time to come.”
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