Edgeware Road victim's brother hails positive moves

The launch of the Edgeware Road conference report shows something positive has come out of the tragedy which took two young lives, says the brother of one victim.

Chris Young is the brother of Jane Young, who was killed last May when Lipine Sila drove his car into a crowd of party-goers outside a house on Edgeware Road.

Sila was found guilty on Saturday of murdering Young and Hannah Rossiter, both 16, and injuring many others.

In June 2007, a youth conference was held which gave 150 young people the chance to speak about the tragedy and discuss issues facing today's youth.

A report from the conference was launched last night.

It outlines several initiatives young people have been putting into place over the past year. They include holding more youth events and encouraging interaction with adults and authorities.

Chris Young said people had learned from what had happened and the growth of youth organisations such as White Elephant and Red Panda was great to see.

"I just hope those organisations and what they are doing keep going," he said. "Talking about issues is the only way to solve them. Unless people are out there making an effort to confront things, it's not going to change."

White Elephant Trust chairman Anthony Rohan said many of the report's recommendations had already been put into action. Over the past year, the trust developed a youth-run radio station and newsletter and meetings had been set up between young people and authorities such as the police to give youth more of a voice, he said.

Young people had asked for more youth-oriented events so regular ticketed events were now organised by a trust sub-committee.

A committee had been developing and testing guidelines for running parties such as using a pre-party checklist to see if a venue is safe, Rohan said.

- © Fairfax NZ News