Channay Augustus: GoFundMe Shut Down After Knife Charge

We recently reported that a friend of Channay Augustus, the young woman accused of chasing an illegal asylum seeker from her blind mother’s home, had launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her legal expenses.

That page has since been taken down after it was found to breach the platform’s terms and conditions, which prohibit fundraising for the defence of individuals charged with violent offences or those involving weapons.

GoFundMe makes clear that while it allows campaigns for civil legal costs, immigration cases and minor charges, it does not permit fundraisers connected to serious criminal allegations and reviews such matters on a case-by-case basis.

Augustus, 22, of Byng Street, Tower Hamlets, appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court charged with possession of an offensive weapon, affray, assault on an emergency worker, common assault and possession of cannabis.

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She admitted the cannabis offence but entered not guilty pleas to the remaining charges. District Judge Jane McIvor refused bail and remanded her in custody pending trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 12 September.

Thames Magistrates Court was told Augustus had been cleaning her blind mother’s flat near the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf when she discovered a man inside without permission.

She alleged he was behaving indecently, and the Metropolitan Police later confirmed that a man in his early twenties, believed to be an asylum seeker, was arrested in Hackney on suspicion of common assault.

Prosecutors say Augustus later joined a group outside the Britannia Hotel, which houses asylum seekers under Home Office arrangements. It is alleged she confronted a security guard before returning with a meat cleaver, striking it against a barrier while making remarks about asylum seekers. The common assault charge relates to the guard.

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