The mother of a young musician who was killed in a stabbing outside her home has spoken out following the recent spate of knife incidents in the city.
Hip-hop artist Aaron Buron was stabbed to death after a fight where he was trying to stop a fight between a man and his girlfriend near his family home.
The dad-of-two, was just two days away from his 30th birthday when he was killed by 18-year-old Haydan O'Callaghan, of Saunders Road, Rose Hill.
The teenager was handed a life sentence at Oxford Crown Court a few months later after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Aaron’s mother Eden Buron, who worked as a nurse, was at home when she got a knock on the front door from a neighbour letting her know about her son who had been stabbed three times with a kitchen knife.
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She arrived before the police and ambulance and gave CPR but said she knew he was dead before their arrival.
It’s a night she says she relives “night after night” and has a "rippling effect" across the her entire family.
She described her son as a “very much loved man” who was excited about having his first CD cut.
The trained chef and music lover was studying carpentry at Oxford & Cherwell Valley College in Blackbird Leys and spoke out against knife crime in his songs.
She said: “I believe in the bible and for me, my faith is what has kept me going since I can remember. It was hard and difficult times
“It has a rippling effect and this [knife crime] is the beginning. Gradually, it affects my children and my son’s children, who were eight and two at the time."
“The years are going by and it is now 12 years and what my fear now is the sentencing is almost halfway through and my grandchildren are getting older.
“I am scared, not for myself but for my grandchildren,” she added,
“I have tried my utmost to teach them to follow the right path and help them.
“But when things like this happen it pushes you just off the edge. I have no idea how the are going to react in 10 years time.
“Every year I do little things for me, not necessarily for anyone else but I always go buy a few bunch of flowers and put them in my hedge in my garden.
“And that is for me and for anyone who remembers.”
She said: “From my side, it is to be able to speak to the sisters, the brothers, the mums, the dads and put across my feelings and how it affected me.
“I feel like I am strong. That is what keeps me going and this will be a memorial to Aaron.”
“Obviously having this charity I can help any sort of family member because of my experience.
Mr Blakemore served 32 years in Merseyside Police and says the recent spate of stabbings in 2024 is a “growing concern”.
It comes as the Oxford Mail has launched an anti-knife campaign following recent stabbings in the city which aims to raise awareness of how the crime can be prevented.
He said: “It is getting to the point where our sixteen-year-old niece, who is very streetwise, but is resent to going into certain areas of the city because of what is going on.
“Why should a sixteen-year-old be scared to go to certain areas? Oxford is a lovely city. The incidents of knife crime are putting a mark on the city."
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