A Leeds teen has revealed the horrifying moment a thug scraped a knife across his uncle's belly, as police bolster stop and search powers in the area.
West Yorkshire Police are combatting criminal gang activity in Burmantofts with increased powers to stop and search in four major roads. This comes after a man was chased by another man wielding a machete yesterday (June 26) in the area, in what the force believes was a "retaliatory incident" between gangs.
Andrej Gabor, 17, has lived in Burmantofts with his mum and little brother 10, for eight months. He’s left school and is currently looking for work, with ambitions of becoming a mechanic.
Read more: Two Leeds men charged with murder after Bradley Wall found dead outside Beeston home
Andrej, who’s originally from the Czech Republic and was brought up in Cardiff, spoke of the horrifying incident involving his uncle and his family's fears.
He said: “My little brother can no longer go out anymore, my mum’s too scared. She doesn’t let him go out the house and is worried when I go out as well. It’s scary in this area.
“My uncle was just chilling with his friends. Some guy came up to him and was like ‘You owe me money!’ and it was the wrong person. He came up to my uncle and just scratched him with a knife.”
'A lot of drugs'
Asda car park attendant Martin O’Boyle, 62, has lived in Burmantofts for about 10 years. He’s happy about the increased searches as he believes a lot of drug dealing takes place near where he lives.
Martin said: “I’d s*** myself if someone was coming at me with a knife. I don’t feel safe here, there’s a lot of drugs. They sell drugs near me. I see people going into houses and selling drugs. The neighbours have been telling me.
“It’s the police’s job to search people. It makes me feel safer.”
Adam Mohammed, 28, has lived in Burmantofts for one year, he’s an asylum seeker from Sudan. He’s currently studying a languages college course.
Adam thinks Burmantofts is a “beautiful” area and was surprised to learn about street ganga activity. He said: “I have never noticed any crime here, never. I’ve seen crime in the city centre but none here.
“For me, Burmantofts is beautiful. It’s a safe place for me.”
He went on to add he was “surprised” to learn about the machete incident but he went on to praise police for doing a “good job” by increasing powers of ‘stop and search’.
The increased stop and searches cover Torre Road, East Park Parade, Railway Street and Marsh Lane
Read more:
