A teenager has repeatedly denied that he deliberately pushed 13-year-old Christopher Kapessa to his death in a Welsh river, telling an inquest he accidentally “fell into” the boy as he stood on a ledge high above the deep, murky water.
The 19-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Christopher’s inquest he could not remember asking a friend: “Shall I push him?” and nor could he recall laughing after the boy, who was a weak swimmer, plunged into the river.
Christopher’s family has called for the teenager to be charged over his death but the Crown Prosecution Service said it was not in the public interest to do so. Christopher’s relatives claim if he had not been black the CPS would have taken the case more seriously.
During the inquest at Pontypridd, south Wales, several young people who were at the riverbank have said they saw the push or were told about it soon after.
At the start of the 19-year-old’s evidence, the assistant coroner, David Regan, told him he did not have to answer any question that could incriminate him, but if he chose to reply he had to tell the truth.
The teenager said he knew Christopher from school and football and the pair were part of a group who went to the River Cynon in the village of Fernhill, south Wales, after classes on 1 July 2019. The witness said he remembered Christopher standing on a grey stone ledge looking into the water, apparently contemplating jumping into the river, as other friends had done.
Another friend who was present told the court the 19-year-old asked if he should push Christopher in. The 19-year-old said: “I don’t recall having a conversation with him.”
He was asked by the counsel to the inquest, Tom Leeper: “How did Christopher end up in the water?” The witness replied that he “fell into” him. At this point, Christopher’s mother, Alina Joseph, left the court in tears.
Leeper asked him: “Immediately before Christopher went into the water, did you walk behind him and intentionally push Christopher in the back with the palms of your hands?” He replied: “No.”
The barrister asked him if he was on the stone ledge, laughing, after Christopher entered the water, as one witness reported. He replied: “I can remember standing on the ledge, I can’t remember if I was laughing or not.” He also denied telling a friend he had pushed Christopher in as a joke.
Michael Mansfield KC, for Christopher’s family, asked him: “Are you saying you stumbled, slipped and fell just behind Christopher?” He replied: “Yes.”
Mansfield asked him if he had told anyone at the time it had been a “terrible accident”. The 19-year-old said he could not remember doing so. Mansfield said: “There were no conversations because that’s not what happened.”
The barrister said the inquest was an opportunity for him to tell the truth. He said to him: “You are aware that none of the people who were present, not a single one, saw what you said happened.” The witness accepted this.
Mansfield said: “The truth is that you did push him in, whether as a joke or messing about.”
The witness said: “There was contact but I did not push him.”
Mansfield pressed him: “You saw Christopher wavering on the brink and thought you would push him in, is that what happened?”
The witness replied: “No.”
The inquest continues.
• This article was amended on 14 January 2024. The incident took place in Fernhill, not Ferndale as an earlier version said.
