Domestic abuse charity ‘wiped out’ after man fled with £20,000-worth of goods

A charity has been left ‘wiped out’ after suffering nearly £20,000 worth of damage in a ‘targeted’ break-in.

Sistah Space, which supports Afro-Caribbean women fleeing domestic abuse, was ransacked in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The door to their office space was busted open, and was the only one hit despite being in the same building as 75 other businesses and charities.

Ngozi Fulani, CEO and founder of the charity, told Metro: ‘This definitely feel targeted, this place is a bit of a maze, and they walked right past every other space, up the lift and into our office.’

Ngozi had previously been forced to step away from her role in the charity after receiving death threats during the Buckingham Palace race row with Lady Susan Hussey in 2023.

Lady Susan, who was a close friend of the late Queen and is Prince William’s godmother, repeatedly asked Ms Fulani where she was ‘really from’.

Ever since then, the charity has been threatened, with the latest break in resulting in the loss of nearly 90% of the their technology, including Apple computers and iPads.

Djan Robinson, operations manager, told Metro: ‘We communicate with other support services to help give people the best advice and security they need – including police and other charities.

‘And now this has really reduced our ability to do this.’

The thief also took some high-end donations, including cosmetic sent by Vogue and trainers delivered by Puma and Nike.

Even the keys to the shop they run as a source of income were taken, meaning they are unable to open it up.

Ngozi said: ‘All in, they have probably lost us nearly £20,000. But there does not seem to be any movement to finding the culprit – even though he left a chisel and two drops of blood at the scene.’

It is not the first time the charity were broken into, as last March their shop was targeted.

But this time felt ‘much more personal’ to the group.

‘The thief just bypassed everyone else and felt comfortable enough to ransack us for an hour – he sought us out, whereas the shop felt more like a normal high street robbery,’ Ngozi said.

Sistah Space is in the middle of raising £350,000 to help support their refuge, but are now unable to carry on with this while they manage the impact of the break in.

Rose Lewis, senior domestic abuse advisor, told Metro: ‘Service users are at the forefront of all we do, and we are now having to sort safeguarding, balance regular operations and fundraise for our campaign.

‘It’s all been very disappointing.’

The Metropolitan Police said: ‘On Friday, 11 April police were contacted following a report of a robbery that took place on Tuesday, 9 April in an office on Ashwin Street, Hackney.

‘It was reported a laptop, some cash and audio equipment had been stolen.

‘Officers attended the scene and seized evidence for forensic analysis.

‘No arrests have been made at this stage and enquiries continue.’

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