Around 150 people stood together in Wembley Park on Sunday, laying flowers where a teenager’s life was cut short a year ago. Among them was Bonnie — a mother who says she still wakes each morning to what she calls a constant pain.
“One year on and I am still broken, our family is broken, my friends are broken, and anyone who knew Ty is still broken,” she said, speaking to London Now to mark the anniversary of her son’s death.
A year of “constant pain”
Bonnie describes a grief that has not softened with time. “People might think that because a year has passed, things somehow get easier — they don’t,” she said. “You just learn to wake up every morning with a pain that never leaves and a fake smile.”
What haunts her most is an ordinary evening. “It feels like yesterday that we had our last final conversation — I still picture that now, him laying on my bed annoying me whilst I was trying to get ready. If I knew this would have been our final conversation, I would have told him how much I loved him, hugged him tighter and not let him go.”
She says she keeps going “for Ty, for my girls and my two beautiful grandsons”.
The night that changed everything
Tyrece David Balcha, 18, from Hillingdon, was shot at Atlantic Crescent in Wembley Park — a short walk from the national stadium — at 5.27am on September 21 last year. He was found unresponsive outside the Crystal Club, near South Way and First Way, and rushed to hospital, where he fought for his life for four days. He died on September 25: a year ago today.
Sunday’s gathering, close to the scene, saw mourners leave tributes at a memorial shrine; a display in his memory at The White Horse in Wembley Park is expected to stay up until Saturday.
“It doesn’t feel like justice”
In August, Ashley Wallace, of Shenley Road in Southwark, was found guilty of Tyrece’s murder. Other people — from Lewisham, Blackheath and Morden — were previously charged over the incident. But one conviction has not given the family peace.
“People hear that there has been a conviction and they might think justice has been done,” Bonnie said. “But as his mum, I will tell you the truth — it doesn’t feel like justice. Yes, one man has been found guilty of murdering my son and I am grateful that the truth of what happened to Tyrece was heard in court. But there is still a retrial for one of them and then there are people who have walked away from court having been found not guilty.”
A year on from the Wembley South Way fatal shooting, the family are still waiting: a retrial next June, then a victim impact statement, then sentencing. “We feel like we cannot grieve Ty fully yet,” she said. Fatal shootings continue to devastate families across the capital — three more men have been charged over a separate fatal shooting in Newham, while a teenager awaits sentencing at the Old Bailey after admitting a premeditated murder in Westminster.
Questions for the nightclub — and the country
Bonnie also wants to know why the nightclub outside which her son was attacked is still open, after the court heard there had been an altercation outside the venue beforehand.
Her anger reaches further. “There are mothers all over Brent, all over London, all over this country — mothers who are living the nightmare I am living,” she said. “Children are dying, young lives are being taken and families are being destroyed. When does it stop — when it’s on their doorsteps? Where is the government, where are the people responsible for keeping our young people safe?”
Four lives saved
Shortly before he died, Tyrece had registered as an organ donor. His organs gave life-changing surgery to several people and saved four lives — recognised with the Order of St John award for organ donation.
“I don’t want people to remember him only as the 18-year-old who was shot outside a nightclub,” Bonnie said. “I want you to remember the young man who had the biggest heart, the son who was loved.”
