Stabbing park not a safe place to let children play say parents

ON Tuesday morning the play area in Doncaster’s Elmfield Park was being used by children on their half-term holidays but by yesterday it was a sealed-off crime scene.

Specialist officers spent much of the day combing the area where Casey-Lyanne Kearney collapsed and a white forensic tent was in place, just yards from the swings and slide.

The 13-year-old died from a single stab wound, and it is thought she may have been attacked outside the park and had tried to stagger to safety before summoning help.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

John Willis, a tennis coach who was giving lessons on courts nearby was one of the first on the scene and revealed he initially thought the teenager was having a fit.

Mr Willis, from Wheatley, Doncaster, said his own sons Owen, 10, and Matthew, five, had been playing on the swings during his lesson and had run to tell him what was happening.

“They had spotted the girl and Owen ran over to tell me. I didn’t take much notice at first because she was 30 or 40 yards away but then she collapsed.

“At first she looked like she was walking normally, but then she sank to her knees, put her hands on the ground in front of her and then fell face first onto the grass.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I ran across and found the poor girl on the ground and by that time she was being looked after by another lady and we just tried to get her to stay with us.

“The police and the ambulance service were fantastic and got there quickly, I just didn’t realise how serious it was and didn’t know she had died until today.”

The entire park, which is run by Doncaster Council and is home to the town’s register office, had been sealed off with police stationed on every gate.

Michelle McKernon, who lives on the Hyde Park estate, close to the park, said she had banned her children from playing there because of problems with drunks.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She added: “It just isn’t the kind of place you would let children play these days. I have lived round here all my life and it has definitely got worse in that park lately.

“It’s not like it was when I was a child. People around here have all got stories about things that have happened to their children and grandchildren, with drunks hanging around. Only yesterday my daughter was passing the park and saw a woman who was drunk, and recently there was talk of a man and woman having sex there in broad daylight.

“It’s not a place you want to be, and what has happened to that girl is so sad.”

An assistant at Bennetthorpe News on the other side of the park said there had been a lot of police activity in the area on Tuesday afternoon, but nobody realised how serious things were.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The man, who asked not to be named, said: “I am here all day, every day and usually it’s fairly quiet, but yesterday afternoon there were police everywhere and we wondered what had happened.

“It’s just so sad to think that something like this could happen around here. We can’t believe that somebody could be killed so close to our shop.”

Chief Superintendent Peter Norman, South Yorkshire Police’s Doncaster district commander, said the area was safe, with only three minor assaults recorded in 12 months. He added: “We are monitoring community tension in the area and residents have responded positively to our officers after this tragic event.”