Murder of Victoria Climbié
Born in Abobo, Côte d'Ivoire, Victoria Climbié left the country with her great-aunt Marie-Thérèse Kouao, a French citizen who later abused her, for an education in France where they travelled, before arriving in London, England, in April 1999.
They burned her with cigarettes and scalded her with hot water, starved her, tied her up for periods longer than 24 hours, and hit her with bike chains, hammers, wires, shoes, belt buckles, coat hangers, wooden spoons, and their bare hands.
It discovered numerous instances where Victoria could have been saved, noted that many of the organisations involved in her care were badly run, and discussed the racial aspects surrounding the case, as many of the participants were black.
[6] Marie-Thérèse Kouao, Francis' aunt, was born on 17 July 1956 in Bonoua, Ivory Coast, and lived in France with her three sons, claiming welfare benefits.
[5] By December 1998, however, Kouao began to receive warnings about Victoria’s absenteeism, and in February 1999, the school issued a child-at-risk notification and a social worker became involved.
[9] They had a reservation in a bed and breakfast at Twyford Crescent, Acton, where they lived until 1 May 1999, when they moved to Nicoll Road, Harlesden, in the London Borough of Brent.
Although Winter was shown Victoria’s passport (with a photograph of Anna), she paid no attention to them, believing that Kouao's application was ineligible on the grounds of habitual residence.
[15] By the middle of June 1999, Victoria was spending the majority of her days at the Brent home of Priscilla Cameron, an unregistered childminder, whom Kouao met at her job in the hospital.
[19] Samantha Hunt, the customer-service officer who received the call at the One Stop Shop at Brent House, faxed the referral to the children's social work department on that same day.
[20] Nobody picked up the referral on that Friday afternoon, and what happened to it was—according to Lord Laming, who headed the subsequent inquiry—the subject of "some of the most bizarre and contradictory evidence" the inquiry heard.
[10] The relationship developed quickly, and on 6 July 1999, Kouao and Victoria moved into Manning's one-bedroom flat at Somerset Gardens in Tottenham, in the London Borough of Haringey.
[17] Cameron, her son Patrick, and her daughter Avril, observed that Victoria had numerous injuries—including a burn on her face and a loose piece of skin hanging from her right eyelid—which Kouao said was self-inflicted.
[36] However, Ruby Schwartz, the consultant paediatrician and named child protection doctor at the hospital, diagnosed scabies and decided that it was scratching that caused the injuries.
[16] When Michelle Hine, a child protection officer at Brent council, received a report notifying her of Victoria’s injuries, she planned to open an investigation into the case.
Neil Garnham QC, counsel to the inquiry following Victoria’s death, later said to her, "there is a terrible danger here—is there not, doctor—of social services on the one hand and you on the other each expecting the other to do the investigation, with the result that nobody does".
[46][47] Jones was told by a doctor that Victoria’s injuries were consistent with belt buckle marks, although she claimed in the inquiry there was no evidence of child abuse.
The pastor at the Mission Ensemble Pour Christ, Pascal Orome, offered prayers for Victoria to cast out the devil, and thought that her injuries were due to demonic possession.
Laming said in his report, "it may be no coincidence that within three days of this conversation, Kouao contacted Ms. Arthurworrey to make allegations which, if true, would have placed Victoria squarely within that category".
[16] On 24 February 2000, Victoria Climbié was taken, unconscious and suffering from hypothermia, multiple organ failure, and malnutrition, to the local Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
The inquiry, based in Hannibal House, Elephant and Castle, London, cost £3.8 million, making it the most expensive child protection investigation in British history.
She received contact from twelve senior practitioners and team managers criticising the proposals as "potentially dangerous and detrimental to the people to whom we offer a service".
[105] Carole Baptiste, Arthurworrey's first supervisor, initially refused to attend the hearings, but subsequently gave vague responses to the inquiry,[108] and said that she had been suffering from mental illness at the time.
[108] Arthurworrey said that, in their meetings, Baptiste spent most of the time discussing "her experiences as a black woman and her relationship with God", rather than child protection cases, and that she was frequently absent.
[120][121] In the hearings, Arthurworrey, who is African-Caribbean, admitted that her assumptions about African–Caribbean families influenced her judgement, and that she had assumed Climbié's timidity in the presence of Kouao and Manning stemmed not from fear, but from the African–Caribbean culture of respect towards one's parents.
[123] Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary from 2007, said: "I have not seen widespread evidence that social workers are not taking action", and, "there are no cultures that condone child abuse.
[138] The Laming report was criticised by Caroline Abrahams and Deborah Lightfoot of NCH as too narrow, focusing too much on the particular case of Victoria Climbié and not on general child protection.
[141] Laming responded to criticism by the Association of Directors of Social Services that his recommendations would require much more funding by saying that these arguments lacked "intellectual rigour", and he dismissed claims that his reforms would be too bureaucratic.
As George Meehan only reversed his decision just before the meeting, a driver was rushed to Acton to escort Francis and Berthe Climbié and Mor Dioum, their interpreter, to the council.
[162] Dr Chris Hanvey, director of operations at Barnardo's, for example, said, "Victoria's tragic case is the latest in a sad roll-call of child deaths, each leading to fresh inquiries and a new but recurring set of recommendations".
[168] Some hallmarks of these attachment patterns include putting other's needs (such as the primary caregivers) ahead of one's own needs even if to one's ultimate detriment, the use of false positive affect, and denial of pain.
