[2] According to Kapessa's family and their representatives, the police investigation into the incident lasted around two days, the event declared "an accident" within 24 hours.
[5][3][6] In February 2020, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) reported that there was "sufficient evidence" but not "public interest" for a manslaughter case against a child suspected to have pushed Kapessa into the river.
[7][8] A 2024 inquest found that it was a "dangerous prank" that caused Kapessa's death, but that the child who pushed him did not intend to kill him.
[9][2] The local community in Wales and internet crowdfunding have provided money to the family, which supports their legal fees.
[8] Born on 16 January 2006, Christopher Kapessa had six siblings and was raised by his single mother, who worked as a bus driver.
[8] Joseph reported that the family had been called "the only blacks in the village" in Wales and were subject to racist bullying and harassment, one incident leaving Christopher alone "in a pool of his own blood".
[8] Emergency services were notified of the incident around 5:40 p.m.[1] A South Wales Police search team, firefighters, paramedics and a helicopter were dispatched;[16][10] Kapessa's body was recovered from the river and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
[17] The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) concluded that Kapessa was pushed into the river in an action that was "not in an effort to harm someone".
[3] The family claimed that the investigation had stopped around a day after the incident was declared an accident, by which time four of the 14 people present at the scene had been contacted by police.
[7][8] Joseph was also in contact with Race Alliance Wales, who urged a "full investigation" into both the death of Kapessa and the police conduct in response to the incident.
[2] In January 2024, an inquest found that Kapessa died from a "dangerous prank"—he was deliberately pushed by a child who did not intend to cause his death.
[7] In June 2020, campaigners in the Black Lives Matter movement compared the police handling of the case to that of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.