A young woman last seen in Hackney in east London over a week ago has gone missing - sparking fury from campaigners her case has gained almost no media attention.
Police issued an urgent appeal to locate a 28-year-old woman, identified only by her first name Vanessa, last spotted in a jumper and jogging bottoms in Hackney at 5.30pm on 14 July last week.
Ngozi Fulani, the founder of Sistah Space, a domestic abuse service based in Hackney, told The Independent she is highly concerned about Vanessa’s disappearance as she warned “anything could have happened to her”.
Ms Fulani, whose organisation is the only domestic violence service for African and Caribbean heritage women in London, added: “We hope she is safe and well. This is very worrying. The media are very silent. She deserves to be treated like you would treat any other victim.
“When Sarah Everard went missing, I had as much as concern as everyone else did. I don’t look at a colour chart if a woman goes missing.
“When she went missing every media outlet covered it. Everyone was alert. Later we found it she had been killed by a police officer but none of us knew what happened to her at first - we only knew she was missing.”
Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by Wayne Couzens, a serving Metropolitan Police officer, after she went missing while walking home in Clapham, southwest London, in March last year. The 33-year-old marketing executive’s body was later found in woodland in Kent.
Ms Fulani said she was not remotely shocked by the dearth of attention Vanessa’s case has received in the press but warned the lack of coverage sends the message that “our lives are not important”.
“We want to make very clear black lives matter and black women matter,” she added.
Hackney Police said if anyone has any information or has spotted Vanessa, they should call the missing person unit on 07557 572 120. While the Met Police has said people can also ring the police on 101 and cite the reference number 22MIS024748.
