How did Christopher Kapessa die? 13-year-old boy fell victim to a “dangerous prank," coroner reveals in inquest

13-year-old Christopher Kapessa's death in 2019 left a lot of questions for his family, and new details have now emerged in the case. During a trial at the South Wales Coroner's Court on January 22, 2024, Assistant Coroner David Regan revealed that the incident was a result of a prank.

According to Sky News, Kapessa drowned in River Cynon and Regan told the court that Kapessa was reportedly pushed from behind by a boy named Jayden Pugh, who was 14 years old at the time. He further stated:

"The push was a dangerous prank. However, the child responsible did not intend to cause Christopher's death and himself jumped into the water, with other children, as an unsuccessful attempt at rescue."

Furthermore, Regan claimed that he could not find anything linked to racism during his investigation. According to BBC, Christopher Kapessa's mother Alina Joseph expressed her grief behind her son's demise, saying that it is not easy for her to witness other children enjoying their lives. She continued,

"I wonder every day what he would look like now – the only image I have of him is at the age of 13 – and what he would have been doing. He would still be cheeky and making us all laugh."

Joseph also refused to accept the claims made by Regan, saying that Pugh did everything intentionally. She added that her son did not get justice and her family was allegedly a victim of racism in the past.

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Christopher Kapessa's body was found at River Cynon: Racism accusations and investigation explored

BBC reported Christopher Kapessa died in July 2019 and his body was recovered from River Cynon. While an investigation was launched into the case, the South Wales police department was reportedly accused of discrimination on a complaint filed by a charity organization called The Monitoring Group.

Suresh Grover, who serves as the organization head, states that the police declared Kapessa's death as an accident in 24 hours without having a look at the evidence. Grover claimed that Alina was "distraught" over everything that happened and added,

"Losing a child, so suddenly and in such tragic circumstances is very difficult for anybody to manage."

Christopher Kapessa's family was also supported by Hilary Brown, who works for the Race Alliance Wales. Brown reportedly claimed in 2019 that the family was a victim of racism and referring to Joseph, she said,

"She's a black lady with seven black children of African heritage who had faced everything from racial abuse to assault, to offensive graffiti being daubed in and around her home."

Kapessa's family members alleged that there were 14 eyewitnesses but only four were questioned by the police department, as per Wales Online. However, a teenage boy, whose identity was not revealed, approached the cops to help with the investigation.

The CPS discovered the following year that there was enough evidence to file a manslaughter case. They said in a statement that Christopher Kapessa was pushed into the river, calling it an "unlawful act" and that the suspect also had a clean record at school.

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Jayden Pugh's attorney responds to the accusations of racism

As mentioned earlier, David Regan could not find any evidence related to racism which could have been a motive behind pushing Christopher Kapessa. Jayden Pugh's lawyer David Hughes denied the charges of racism, as per The Guardian.

Hughes additionally expressed his regret towards everything that Kapessa's family had to suffer from and ended by saying that the racism accusations cannot be proved by "making Jayden a scapegoat."

Alina Joseph told the court earlier this month that Kapessa was also assaulted on one instance but they did not approach the police department. Joseph reportedly claimed that her son was being called names at the school despite that he had a lot of friends.

The latest updates have revealed that Christopher's family is getting in touch with the Crown Prosecution Service to take action against Pugh after the coroner shared the details of his investigation to the court.