Shukri Abdi: 12-year-old refugee who drowned in river was ‘pushed around’ by two girls on day she died, inquest hears

Inquest has heard one the girls has admitted telling child: ‘Get in the water or I’ll kill you’

Shukri’s body was found in the River Irwell in Bury on 27 June 2019 (Family photo)

A 12-year-old Somali refugee who drowned in a river was “pushed around” by two girls who were at the scene when she died, an inquest has heard.

Shukri Abdi was found dead in the River Irwell, near Bury, on 27 June last year.

A school friend – named in proceedings only as Child One – has already admitted she told the youngster that day: “Get in the water or I’ll kill you”. She said she was joking.

On Tuesday, Rochdale Coroner’s Court heard from another pupil who said the girl who made the threat had been bullying Shukri earlier that day.

In a footage of a police interview played to the court, the pupil said that Child One and another youngster had approached Shukri in a sports changing room at about 3pm.

“They started pushing her around,” she told officers. “She wasn’t saying anything. I thought it was a bit horrible.”

In the recording, she is asked how she thought Shukri – whose family moved to the UK in 2017 after fleeing conflict in Syria – was feeling at the time.

“I think she was feeling a bit worried and scared,” she replied. “Not properly nervous just a bit worried… The way she was acting, she wasn’t really happy.”

The inquest earlier heard the two friends of Shukri had told the police she had gone under the water and not come back up, and that one of them had been holding her hand at the time.

Police constable Steve Dolan said he was on duty at the nearby police station when a male friend ran in without a top on and said someone had gone into the water.

He drove with the boy to the river where he came across the two girls.

He described in court trying to get an explanation about what had happened.

Mr Dolan said: “I did ask, I took the idea they were playing at the river, I asked how she had gone into the river, the answer was she was walking in the river and had suddenly went underwater.”

He was asked: “Who gave that answer?”

He replied: “It was one of the girls but I can’t remember which one... I did believe one of the girls said they were holding hands as she was walking in the river.”

Shukri’s body was eventually discovered by police that evening. Officers visited the family home at 1am to break the news of her death.

Home Office pathologist Philip Lumb told the hearing the cause of death was drowning.

He said: “There were no injuries that would suggest she had been assaulted.”

Greater Manchester Police has previously said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the child’s death.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct is conducting an inquiry into the force's handling of the investigation.

The inquest, before coroner Joanna Kearsley, continues.