Ms Aleena was killed on a road in Ilford, east London, in the early hours of Sunday June 26, on her way back from a night out with friends. A man has since been charged with murder, attempted rape and attempted robbery. The would-be lawyer’s death has led to fresh concerns from women in the capital that police are still not doing enough to stop such violence. Now a 23-year-old woman has come forward to say she was attacked in the same street while returning from a night out with friends when the harassment turned into a sexual assault. The woman, who does not want to be named, says she has become “very wary” of walking alone, knowing her attacker is still roaming the streets after police failed to find him. Speaking about the police’s role in helping to protect women from male violence, she said they should be “there to prevent crime from happening, not just when crime happens”. The scene in Cranbrook Road where Ms Aleena was fatally attacked (PA wire) Recounting her ordeal, the victim said she left Ilford station at 10.30pm on September 27, 2021 and started the short walk via Cranbrook Road, but soon realized someone was walking behind her. The man initially overtook, but then slowed down, trying to walk at the same pace. She sped past him, but then approached and asked for her number. “I said no, obviously,” he told the Independent. “But he kept insisting, again and again. He couldn’t speak proper English, he was just saying the same thing.” The victim told the man her father was “right there” to try and scare him away. But the attacker didn’t believe her, repeatedly saying “No” to show her he knew no one was around. “He started coming closer and I leaned against a wall,” he said. “Then he grabbed my butt and I hit his hand. I started shouting to him and said again “My dad is there”. The 23-year-old, who was 22 at the time of the attack, said the man was “looking [her]” to see if she was telling the truth about her father. I kept yelling “Daddy!” pretending to be there and then he started running.” The man headed in the direction of Ilford station while the victim ran the last five minutes to her destination, terrified she would turn around and realize her father was not there. The shocked family reported the incident to the police but said they were disappointed by the force’s response and the case was eventually closed with no arrests made. While the victim was able to get away before anything more serious happened, she worries what the attacker would have done to other women who may have gotten away. Describing herself as taller than the man, she said: “If it was someone who wasn’t as strong or strong, or if someone froze in fear, they would have done something.” Family and friends attended a vigil in Ilford, east London, for Ms Aleena (PA) After being told to go to her local station to report the crime, no one was available to take her statement. “We just reported a crime of this nature and were asked to come back in two or three hours,” her mother said. “It was all very casual.” They decided to call the station to ask if the officers could take a statement from the victim’s home, but were told that no one would be able to come until the weekend, meaning the victim was waiting five days after the incident. At this point, the victim’s mother contacted local Labor councilor Khayer Chowdhury, who had campaigned for better safety in Ilford, particularly for women. Within a day of the councilor arriving at the police station, the Met sent two male officers, who the victim’s mother described as “insensitive”, as her daughter felt “frightened” by their presence there. “She was just sexually assaulted by a man,” her mother said. “If I wasn’t home, she would be alone with two strange males in her house. It’s not really appropriate. When will the lessons for this be taken? At least there should have been a woman there.” The victim said she gave a detailed description of the assailant as South Indian, but when the officer returned the information to her, she claimed he said, “Did you mention the assailant was Black?” Flowers were left after the vigil for Ms. Aleena (PA wire) He felt this showed an unconscious bias against Blacks. As a woman of color involved with the police, she said, “I don’t feel safe, I feel afraid.” The family say they were told by police there was “clear” CCTV footage of the incident, but officers later said the footage was too grainy and the case was closed. “We feel like we’ve been abandoned here and we don’t hear what’s going on,” the mother said. “At first she was reluctant to bring it up, and then she did and it just ends like that. “Is it meant to give her some sort of reassurance that if, God forbid, it happens again, that something will actually happen?” The family felt “compelled” to share what happened to them after hearing the news about Ms Aleena and the growing fear women in the area have for their safety. It scares them to know that the perpetrator is still out there, when the victim still has to be late from the station because “she has a life to live.” “You can be close to home and terrible things start happening,” the mother said, “because then you can start to relax when you think, ‘Oh, I’m just down the road.’ Hundreds of people attended the vigil to ‘bring Zara home’ (PA wire) Speaking after Ms Aleena’s murder, Met Chief Inspector Stuart Bell said: “I understand that for women, particularly locally, this is an incredibly distressing incident and I urge you to be vigilant but not alarmed.” Responding to this statement, the mother of the woman who was attacked said: “The police do not understand the matter. We should be concerned when such crimes occur. A woman died, it’s not enough to be vigilant. “Especially when we feel like the response is so boring when things happen.” Met Police said they take offenses of this nature very seriously and officers are following all available lines of inquiry in an attempt to identify the suspects and bring them to justice. But in this case they said they didn’t have enough evidence to identify the perpetrator. A spokesman said: “It is always disappointing when an investigation has to be closed due to a lack of realistic lines of inquiry, but officers have to make difficult judgments based on the likelihood of identifying a suspect and securing a conviction on the evidence available. “In this case, while the suspect was seen on a number of CCTV cameras, the quality of the image that could be obtained from the available footage was deemed too poor to offer a realistic chance of identifying him. “With no further evidence available, this meant the case had to be closed. “We understand that the victim in this case has expressed her frustration that when she first went to the police station, there were no officers available to take her statement. Our records state that she arrived at the station two hours before her scheduled appointment and was asked to return at the pre-arranged time. She was unable to do so and arrangements were later made for the police to attend her home address. “We also understand that he was concerned that both officers who attended afterwards were male. We do not routinely assign officers to incidents based on their gender or the gender of the victim. All our officers are trained in the same way and are able to provide support to victims regardless of gender and background. “If further evidence emerges in this case, it will be evaluated to determine whether it offers a viable new line of inquiry.”
