Families of UK concert stampede victims accuse Asake of neglect one year after incident

The families of the two people killed in a stampede at the 02 Academy Brixton during a concert last year by singer Asake have accused him of neglect and failing to aid the police in the investigation.

Gaby Hutchinson, 23, a security guard, and Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, a mother of two were killed in a crush after hundreds of fans without tickets were allegedly let in to see Asake at the venue on December 15.

According to BBC News, Gaby’s sisters, Nina and Kelsey Hutchinson said that they do not believe that Asake has done as much as he could.

Kelsey, 26, urged Asake to help the police investigating the incident by issuing an appeal to his fans to come forward with any relevant information.

She said: “The singer has such a big influence over his crowd and his followers, and I think the biggest way anyone could help the police is if the singer asked them to come forward with what they heard that night, what they recorded, anything will help and the singer’s got the most power in this situation.”

Nina added: “Reliving everything happened a year ago, it never gets any easier. Gaby will always be the person who should be there and who is missing.

“We’re living in this real time and we still don’t have those answers.”

Speaking of Asake, Rebecca’s parents, Yetunde Olodo and Anthony Ikumelo, said the musician had not reached out to them either.

Mr Ikumelo said: “Asake has been back to the country twice since the incident and twice he hasn’t checked in to the families to ask us how we’re coping.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to contact us but he should do what he thinks is right.

“It’s been a year but for us it feels like last week.

“What makes it so painful is that we are still waiting for answers: we don’t understand why this happened.

“Rebecca went to see her idol and never returned home.”