Unfitness to Plead Consultation Responses - Law Commission ...

APPENDIX IV
[This case study has been anonymised to protect our client’s identity and
confidentiality]
Mr O
Mr O was brought to Kids Company in February 2009 by a cousin of his as he had been
seen to be becoming increasingly depressed. Mr O was assessed by Kids Company on
12.02.09 and was referred into our Urban Academy (a post-sixteen education service)
for children and young people who have not accessed a full range of education
opportunities during school and who want to gain qualifications in order to go into higher
education or employment. Upon assessment Mr O presented as depressed and as
having disrupted sleep due to being blinded in one eye the year before in an incident
with a firework. He was assessed by a child psychotherapist working with Kids Company
who was quite concerned about his presentation. He could not remember his father and
had poor and limited attachment relationships. He had very low self-esteem and seemed
isolated and vulnerable.
Mr O attended the Urban Academy (a little erratically at first) but by mid-March had
engaged well in an emotional literacy syllabus as part of the accredited course at the
Urban Academy. He was said to be shy in classes but was well liked by teachers. In
April 2009, Mr O was involved in an incident that led to the fatal stabbing of one of his
friends in Larkhall Park. He was stabbed in the leg but managed to escape. This incident
had a profound effect on him and his entire peer group and Kids Company established a
new service to work with around fifty children, young people and young adults from the
Stockwell area who were known to be affected by this fatal incident.
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