Mum of teen whose death sparked Cardiff riot ‘begged yobs to stop’
'There are two families broken right now I just want to see my son and I can't because of this riot that has happened.'
The mother of one of the teenagers who died following an electric bike crash begged ‘yobs’ to stop their violence as her son’s body lay in the street.
16-year-old Kyrees Sullivan and Harvey Evans, 15, were killed in the Ely area of Cardiff on Monday evening.
The incident happened just after 6pm on Snowden Road and locals claimed the two boys were being chased by South Wales Police – an allegation the force denies.
Following the crash there was ‘large scale disorder’ until the early hours of Tuesday morning, and there have been multiple arrests.
Scenes being livestreamed on YouTube showed young people throwing fireworks and other missiles at a line of police officers with riot shields who were blocking one end of the street.
Shortly before midnight a car was set on fire and burned fiercely, while a second vehicle was overturned and also torched.
Writing on Facebook Kyrees’s mother Belinda Sullivan pleaded with rioters to stop, because her son’s body was still at the scene of the collision.
The plea, written at around midnight, said: ‘My son is still laying on the floor due to this riot.
‘I’m sat at home heart broken.
‘There are two families broken right now I just want to see my son and I can’t because of this riot that has happened.
‘Please I beg you all to stop and let my son be moved to hospital so I can see him, we need to see our sons.’
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Travis said: ‘First and foremost our thoughts are with the families of the two boys who have died following the collision in Ely and with those affected by the disorder which followed.
‘These are scenes we do not expect to see in our communities, particularly a close-knit community such as Ely.
‘The level of violence towards emergency services and the damage to property and vehicles was totally unacceptable.’
Despite the force’s denial that they chased the boys, the BBC has verified CCTV footage which appears to show a police van following two people on an electric bike minutes before the crash.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.