'Growing up like I did, you either survive or you don't'

The mother of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman, who were murdered in 2020, talks to Joe Shute about her trauma and how her own childhood gave her the strength to deal with it

- Nicole Smallman

Family celebrations for Mina Smallman come burdened with unimaginable pain. Over the Christmas holidays, she is unable even to be at home, for the reminder of the voices and laughter that once filled the house. Above all, however, it is the birthday of her eldest daughter, Bibaa, that she feels most acutely. It marks the moment when, in June 2020 after a Friday night picnic in a park to celebrate Bibaa’s 46th birthday, Bibaa and her 27-year-old sister Nicole (known as Nikki) were stabbed to death in a frenzied attack.

A cherry tree is planted in their memory at Fryent Country Park in Wembley, where 18-year-old Danyal Hussein murdered them in the belief that he needed to “sacrifice” six women every six months. But understandably, Mina finds it too painful to visit. Instead, she prefers to remember her daughters at another cherry tree planted in their memory in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral.

Last month on Bibaa’s birthday, she and her husband of more than 30 years, Chris, drove there together for a day of quiet reflection. But even then, Mina still took the time to arrange a conversation with the Dean of Canterbury to discuss designating an area of the cathedral grounds as a safe space for female survivors of trauma and abuse.

A few weeks prior to that, she spoke at a vigil for the murdered lawyer Zara Aleena, standing alongside Aleena’s family and the parents of Sarah Everard (the 33-year-old who was abducted, raped and killed by Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens).

This is the public face of Mina Smallman, whose own devastating loss has compelled her to campaign against violence directed at women and girls, which this week has been declared a “national emergency” in a new report by the National Police Chiefs’ Council. But she has also dedicated her time to battling what she describes as a deep-rooted misogyny and racism within the police service itself.