Claudyo’s mother Yzakia and step father Nuno 

THE family of a teenager stabbed to death at a birthday party returned to the spot where he was killed to appeal for witnesses in a “very tight knit community” to help detectives crack the case.

Claudyo Jauad Lafayette, 17, died in Granville Road, Kilburn, a year ago on Monday.

Detectives marked the anniversary by offering a £20,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.

With no CCTV footage of the attack or witness evidence, the only real hope Claudyo’s family have of seeing justice rests on people from the south Kilburn coming forward and helping the investigation.

Claudyo’s mother Yzakia Jauad said she had been made aware by community representatives in the area of entrenched fears about speaking up. “We know they are afraid,” she told the New Journal.

“I understand that. We are afraid too, really afraid. Even to be here. But Claudyo was not afraid to come out and help anybody.

“So I have got to do what my son would have done.” She added: “It’s my obligation as his mother to make sure we get justice for our son.”

The New Journal understands that Claudyo was killed after rushing to help another teenager at the same birthday party in the community centre.

The altercation spilled out into the street, where he was stabbed and died. Detectives said the knife attack on Claudyo was not being treated as “gang-related” and are hoping the £20,000 reward – available for the next three months from Crimestoppers – will lead to a breakthrough.

A shrine with candles and photos has been put up at the spot where he died, and a plaque has been fixed to the wall.

Ms Jauad said: “We were coming here every day, but we stopped coming because somebody was taking away everything we put here.

“The flowers. The candles. His pictures. There used to be all pictures of him everywhere here, and posters about the appeal.

“What we put down tonight, it will be gone tomorrow.”

Ms Jauad said she had spoken to a community organiser who had told her about the “very tight community”, adding: “Well, so are we a tight community too in Camden. I can’t make anyone talk.

“But all I can say is the day it happened, everyone was out here. We know that people here know what happened.”

A permanent memorial is being put up inside the community centre in Kilburn Park and a tree is being planted in a nearby green space.

In Camden, a memorial bench has been put up in the Ampthill estate where Claudyo grew up.

A table he had been making in the weeks before his death at a woodwork project went on public display at the Crowndale Centre last month.

St Thomas Canterbury and Fulham Deacon Wayne O’Reilly, a mentor to Claudyo when he was a pupil at Our Lady of Hal Primary School, said: “Of course my sympathies are with the victims. “But no one raises a murderer.

“Why do people need to take someone’s life to settle an argument? It’s a total lack of value for life. It would ruin your life forever.”

Since Claudyo’s murder, five people were arrested but they have not been charged and “remain on police bail”.

Detective Wayne Jolley said: “We have made significant progress over the last year. But there is key evidence we require. I’d like to speak to anyone who was there on the night.”

Asked why it takes £20,000 to get people to come forward with information about a murder to the police, he said: “If there are trust issues in the community, there are things we can do in relation to identity and anonymity regarding the information they provide.”

DCI Jolley dismissed any suggestion the delay in bringing charges against Claudyo’s killers was a “resourcing issue” at the Met, adding: “We have trawled the area for CCTV. I’m sure there are people out there who have seen the incident.

“I urge people to come forward. It is what Claudyo’s family deserve.” Do you know who killed Claudyo? Call police via 101 quoting  CAD 8929/14Jul, or to remain anonymous contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.