Family of girl, eight, killed in school crash ‘waiting for answers’ from police
Franky and Jessie Lau have told Vanessa Feltz on TalkTV that they don’t understand why it is taking so long to investigate their daughter’s death.
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Your support makes all the difference.The father of an eight-year-old girl killed when a 4×4 ploughed into her school last summer says the family is still waiting for answers over what happened from the police.
Franky Lau told Vanessa Feltz on TalkTV that he does not have confidence in the Met and has no idea how long the family will have to wait for an update over the death of Selena Lau last year in south-west London.
In an interview to be broadcast on Monday afternoon, he said: “We still haven’t had any answers. There’s no update. We just don’t understand why it’s taking so long for an incident that everyone has seen.
“There’s only one suspect, one driver. She hasn’t escaped, it’s not like they’re looking for her.”
His daughter Selena and fellow pupil Nuria Sajjad, who was also aged eight, died when a car crashed through a fence and into a building at The Study Prep school in Wimbledon on July 6 last year.
A 46-year-old woman from Wimbledon was arrested at the scene on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and has since been released under investigation.
Mr Lau told the broadcaster: “The driver is free to go wherever she likes, and there’s no time limit on that.
“It’s still ongoing, that’s all we know. It could be 10 years, 20 years, we don’t know.
“I like to think I have faith in the police, but at this point, we don’t have much confidence.
“We just want answers, we want justice for our daughter.
“We’re very close to the other family, that’s how they feel as well.
“It’s no closure, no information or confirmation about whatever happened to our girls. We are frustrated. They’re suffering every day, like us.”
Selena’s mother Jessie told the programme that her older daughter, now 12, has withdrawn from activities that she used to enjoy with her younger sister and sobs at night.
“They were best buddies since the day Selena was born, doing piano, netball, dancing and singing classes together.
“Now she’s withdrawn from all those activities. That’s not fun any more.
“She’s been sobbing at night because they used to listen to songs together before going to sleep and chat. She’s been crying on her own.”
She added: “We just want to have understanding, justice for what happened.
“We owe this answer to ourselves and to the girls. Because you can’t have two innocent children lose their lives and all the questions not answered.
“It could have happened to anyone. In a million years I didn’t imagine this would happen to us, in school.
“The longer it goes on, the more suspicious it gets in our minds because we’re always thinking: why? Why is it taking so long?”
Specialist detectives are working tirelessly to establish the circumstances of that day
Detective Chief Superintendent Clair Kelland said: “Our thoughts remain with the families of Nuria and Selena who we know are greatly loved and missed.
“This was a tragic incident and we understand that the families want and need answers as to what happened. We are continuing to give them specialist support through our dedicated family liaison officers who are providing updates on the investigation where they can.
“Specialist detectives are working tirelessly to establish the circumstances of that day, including analysing CCTV and examining the expert report from forensic collision investigators.
“The incident involved the large-scale deployment of joint resources from the Met, LAS and LFB and we are working closely with them, as well as the Crown Prosecution Service, as part of our investigation.
“We recognise that the time taken can cause further distress but it is only right and fair to all involved that we carry out a thorough and extensive investigation.”
The interview will be broadcast on Vanessa Feltz’s TalkTV show from 4pm.