Respect tribute to tragic family
Nov 12 2007 by Chris Robinson, The Journal
RELATIVES and friends of a family stabbed in their own home last year came together yesterday to remember four vibrant lives.
Yemi Sobo, his sister Olafunke and her two children Steven and Abigail were stabbed to death inside their home in Hawthorn Gardens, Kenton, Newcastle, on November 14 last year.
Just three days short of the anniversary, friends and family attended a special celebration of their lives at Jesmond Parish Church, marking a day of events entitled Respect.
Inside the church pictures of the family, all with beaming smiles, were projected on to a big screen, before prayers were said.
With a theme of remembrance and forgiveness the Reverend David Holloway, leading the celebration, said: “The last 12 months have been a time of learning for many of us adjusting to sad losses and new situations.”
He said that the chapel did not often hold collections during remembrance services but Yemi and Olafunke’s mother Tunde Sobo, 74, who hosted the service with remaining son Yinka, 46, had insisted collection baskets were handed out.
Loved ones had travelled from across the world to pay their respects to the family, as well as pupils and teachers from Gosforth Central Middle School and Archibald First School, where Abigail, 12 and Steven, five, attended.
Afterwards a children’s party was held at the Northumbrian Suite of the Federation Brewery, where youngsters danced and played basketball.
It was followed by the Respect Dinner, at the Brewery’s Lancastrian Suite, where guests were invited to wear red colours before a club night ended the evening’s celebrations.
Bar profits from the evening were donated to the Abigail and Steven Crampton Trust, and the Federation Brewery had offered the venue for free.
The event was organised by one of Yemi’s close friends Nick Bradley, who enlisted the help of friends and colleagues to pull it together. He said: “I decided to call the event Respect. It was a word Yemi used all the time and it was a word that cropped up time and time again in the hundreds of tributes we received via the website.
“I truly hope this will be a day everyone can remember their friends by. I’m still struggling to find my own way to say goodbye to Yemi and hopefully this will be it.”
Earlier this month Mrs Sobo said she wanted everyone to celebrate the happiness her family had in their lives, adding: “This is not about sadness. It is to celebrate their lives and the joy they had over the years.”
Neil Crampton, from Winlaton in Gateshead, has been charged with four counts of murder and is to due to appear before Newcastle Crown Court later this month.
