Torment of family after shooting left man confined to hospital bed for 13 years
The sisters of Marvin Couson said his killer “just walked away” while the father-of-two and his loved ones suffered years of heartbreak.
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Your support makes all the difference.The heartbroken family of a man who lay in a hospital bed for 13 years before dying from gunshot injuries have described their emotional torment that his killer walks free.
Marvin Couson was shot outside the Lime in London nightclub in Shoreditch, east London on May 12 2002 and died 13 years later from catastrophic injuries.
The father-of-two was left lying in a hospital bed unable to communicate for more than a decade after he was gunned down following an argument with two men outside the club.
His sister Deborah Couson said: “This person has done what they’ve done and just walked away.
“They’ve not seen Marvin in a hospital bed with tubes coming out everywhere and just not looking like himself.
“They’ve not seen him not be able to get up on his own and walk around.
“They’ve not seen him smiling, or talking to my mum or kissing my mum and saying I love you every day.
“They’ve just been walking around and not saying anything.
“If you just had a little bit of humanity, just to say ‘I did it and this is what happened’.”
Detectives have been met with a wall of silence over the shooting, and say the key to unlocking the case is witnesses coming forward.
Ms Couson added: “Even if the person themselves doesn’t want to come forward, I’m pretty sure there’s other people that know what happened.
“They must feel torn. It could be their loved one that has done what they did, and just the guilt is eating them up.
“Just free yourself of that secret and tell the truth and help us.”
Margaret Couson said their mother is “completely lost” and that her pain has been made worse because the family do not know what happened that night.
She said: “All the family of the person who carried that firearm, their dad, their mum, their grandparents, you know what your young person did.
“Twenty years on they’re grown, but what they did is still very much affecting a family and will continue to affect a family.
“We can’t forget it just because he passed in 2015, we still live it every day.
“And I am hurt, sad, but really angry, I’m really angry.
“Because they live their life, with every day struggles like everybody else, but not the emotional torment of not knowing what happened, who did this.”
Marvin had gone to a garage night called Ouch at the Lime bar on the night he was shot.
The club was cleared by security when someone fired a gun, and while crowds were outside a red or maroon hatchback drove up to the club at high speed.
Marvin and his friend became involved in an argument with the two people in the car, and he was shot.
Detectives investigated one line of inquiry that rival gang members from London and Birmingham had been in the area that night, but no firm evidence has been found to connect this to Marvin’s shooting.
Two men were pistol-whipped and had their car searched in a separate incident on the same night, and it is believed Marvin could have been an innocent victim of a gang dispute.
He was not specifically targeted and was not involved in criminality, police said.
Detective Chief Inspector Geoff Grogan said: “It is impossible to imagine the pain and suffering Marvin’s family have gone through, enduring years of heartache, visiting his hospital bedside every day for 13 years while he lay there before finally succumbing to his injuries.
“We need your help to end this and help them see justice. Where you there that night? Were you one of those in the car with the man who fatally shot Marvin?
“Maybe you are scared as you feel embroiled in his actions but there was only one person who pulled that trigger and that is the person we need to find. Loyalties and allegiances change over time.
“Do you have any other information, no matter how small? Was there chat at the time, or since?
“It’s a long time ago but you would know if you were there and you know if you were keeping information to yourself that could help our investigation and Marvin’s family.
“Put yourself in their shoes and do the right thing.”
There is a £40,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the killer.