London Bridge attack anniversary: Former inmate says victim Jack Merritt helped him turn his life around
Rosca Onya had a tough start in life and fell into a violent gang, but was later mentored by Jack Merritt in prison.
Sunday 29 November 2020 08:50, UK
I've never met anyone like Rosca Onya before.
He's a rising star in the UK rap scene. But his journey has been anything but easy.
Separated from his parents at the age of five, he fled his war-torn country before coming to the UK as an immigrant.
Lonely and unable to speak English properly, he found his family in a violent street gang.
Fast-forward eight years and he was in jail for carrying a gun. But one man got through to him and helped him turn his life around.
That man was Jack Merritt. He was brutally murdered a year ago this weekend in the London Bridge terror attack.
Now out of jail, Rosca says he owes his life to Mr Merritt - and has released a new song called Jack to mark the first anniversary of his death.
"Jack was the kindest person I've ever met. He was fair, he was a beautiful, beautiful soul and he was so compassionate," he said.
"He wasn't just a friend to me - he was a brother."
Rosca was nine-years-old when he fled the Democratic Republic of Congo along with his siblings after spending more than three years living in refugee camps.
It was during that time that his parents were put in jail, his brother was murdered, and his sister went missing.
"When you're in these camps, the people that are meant to be there to protect you and look after you and keep you safe sometimes are the people that come in there and do bad things to people," he said.
"A lot of bad things happen in those places."
The siblings were reunited with their parents in the UK after being found in a camp by the Red Cross.
But Rosca struggled to cope with the trauma he had experienced in that time and soon fell vulnerable to a street gang.
"So there was this group of older kids in the area and they took a liking to me, and that's basically where it all went wrong," he said.
"I was just a lonely kid. And because I wanted that sense of belonging and fitting in, I latched on to that group.
"Honestly, I thought that was the best love I had ever experienced at that point. All the kids were older and they were teaching me English.
"But then they started asking to drop things off when cars pulled up or people came round. At the time I didn't know what it was, and as I grew older I knew exactly what it was. But at the time, it was too late, I was deep in.
"I fell in love with it. I fell in love with the sense of belonging, the security that I had from them.
"That's what I fell in love with. I didn't fall in love with the selling drugs. When the money started coming in, I used to give my sisters money.
"I made myself a promise when we came to this country that me and my sisters would never go hungry again. That's something I held deep in my heart, we're never going to go hungry - never going to starve."
As Rosca grew older, he became more involved with the gang.
At 15, he nearly died when he was stabbed 17 times by a rival gang member. He only survived because he was attacked outside a hospital.
"I was in a coma for three days. I'm lucky to still be here," he said.
When asked why he didn't turn his back on gang life after the stabbing, he said: "Where would I go, what would I do, where am I going, where am I going to turn to?
"How am I going to survive, how am I going to feed myself? All these things went through my head."
At 17, Rosca and his gang were under police surveillance and he was caught transporting a gun. He was jailed for more than nine years.
It was in prison he met Jack Merritt and his life changed forever.
"Jack stood out straight away," he said.
Mr Merritt was a course convenor for Learning Together, a project bringing Cambridge University students together with inmates to study criminology.
"He would come in every now and then, I'd see him and we'd talk," Rosca continued.
"I told him I had my parole coming up and he helped me, saying 'you need to research this, research that and keep on this path you're on and you'll be okay'.
"When I didn't get my parole, me and him were in a hallway on the wing. I was crying and Jack started crying.
"In that moment, I looked at him and I thought 'wow, you actually feel my pain'.
"Up to that point, me and Jack were friends. He mentored me and helped me but the moment he cried for my pain, that's the moment our bond became stronger.
"In that moment he showed me that everything that he wanted for himself, he also wanted it for me."
Proceeds from the song Jack are going to charities supported by Rosca and the Merritt family.
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