River-tragedy girl's parents take coroner to court

CLAIM INQUEST CONCLUSION 'FLAWED'

- JOHN SCHEERHOUT

A CORONER'S conclusion that the drowning of a 12-year-old Somali refugee was accidental was 'flawed as it failed to take into account allegations that the girl had been bullied, a court was told.

Shukri Abdi, 12, died after getting into difficulties in the River Irwell in Bury during a heatwave in June 2019.

Following an inquest held in 2020, coroner Joanne Kearsley ruled that on the 'balance of probabilities' Shukri died as a result of an accidental death.

Yesterday, her family went to the High Court in Manchester to challenge her conclusion.

The family's lawyer argued the coroner only allowed evidence from the day of the tragedy. They say she ruled out evidence about alleged bullying Shukri had suffered previously by the children who were with her when she went into the water.

At the time of her death, Shukri was with four other children, who for legal reasons can only be referred to as Child One, Two, Three and Four. The 2020 inquest heard how Child One encouraged Shukri to go into the water despite knowing she couldn't swim.

Child One told Shukri she would look after her and would teach her to swim.