Abdul-Latif Pouget with his brother Badruddin

THE brother of a semi-pro footballer killed in a horrifying street stabbing in Farringdon has told how important outreach services were for the aftercare of bereaved families.

Badruddin Pouget was speaking about the loss of his brother, Abdul Latif Pouget, and its impact on his family. “Nothing can really prepare you for an incident like that,” he said. “There is nothing you can do to prepare your family. Even early on after it happened, you lose touch with reality.”

Abdul, 20, known by his friends and family as Abs, died three days after being attacked with a two-foot blade in Back Hill in October last year. Oguzcan Dereli, 27, was sentenced to 24 years in prison at the Old Bailey for his murder in July.

Badruddin Pouget was talking at the annual general meeting of the Coram’s Field charity.

Its Youth Outreach Programme, which delivers targeted support across estates, parks and local hang-outs, has been supporting Badruddin and his family since the loss of their loved one.

Mr Pouget said: “You don’t know who to turn to and you don’t really know how to hold conversations about what has happened and that’s where the aftercare programme has had a positive impact for me.

“The outreach team were able to holistically look at those who are affected so that included my family, my brother’s close friends and the wider community and bring those people together who are feeling disconnected following the incident. It brought us all together.”

He added: “For us to go out on the weekend and have something positive to do. It’s difficult to describe how positive those experiences have been for my family.

“I guess I feel a sense of duty to speak about my experience with that and ultimately my experience has taught me that after care and outreach is essential.”

Abdul Latif Pouget, who grew up on the Bourne estate, was a semi-pro footballer

The outreach programme at the charity tries to build relationships and establish trust with young people in environments familiar to them where they feel safe.

The work targets those young people most at risk, including confronting head-on the issue of serious youth violence.

With a small pot of funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), the outreach team were able to continue an aftercare programme for Badruddin and his family, providing one-to-one support and family days out.

But speaking at the meeting, youth worker Basil Andrews, who has been supporting the Pouget family, said that vital services for families affected by serious incidents like this eventually cease, leaving people struggling without help.

“It is essential moving forward regarding the community that we fill this void that families experience after an incident like this,” he said. “It’s something we have identified. We do have aftercare, but it stops at a certain point and in that void, from October last year we have been with Badruddin, friends and family.”

Abs grew up on the Bourne estate, where the charity regularly focuses its outreach work and where Mr Andrews lives.

Hundreds of people attended Abdul’s funeral last year and a bench was unveiled in his memory in Coram’s Fields where he used to go with his friends and siblings as a child.

Mr Andrews added: “This outreach is so important and the impact it has had on myself and my colleagues has been intense.

“It actually put a battery in my back and really made me want to continue this. I cannot stress how important it is.”

Having worked with the October Gallery, the team and family will be unveiling a portrait of Abdul in the near future.