Greenwich council taking disabled woman to court for exposing horrendous conditions at block of flats

Greenwich council are taking a disabled woman to court after she publicly exposed the dangerous conditions in which she and other residents were being forced to live.

Caught with their pants down

Zkiah Smith shared multiple videos on social media of both council staff and private contractors giving her incorrect and, quite frankly, dangerous information. Along with this, they refused to identify themselves or who they worked for.

Now, the council are kicking off because Zkiah filmed their staff without consent. This is not a criminal offence in the UK on your own property. Even more so when it exposes the wrongdoing of a public body, and is in the public interest. The council are also claiming harassment.

The council are requesting that she remove all cameras from the outside of her property. Importantly, there are no and have never been cameras permanently installed. Zkiah states that she blue tacked a camera to the outside of her property for several days after feeling threatened by private contractors. This was to ensure her own safety when leaving and returning to her property. She has now removed it.

Zkiah also recorded visits and phone calls with council staff and private contractors for her own safety.

Clearly, this is nothing more than an attempt to silence her as her videos have gained traction.

The council also claim that Zkiah has contacted council officers and private contractors on their private social media accounts. She does not deny this. However, this was in response to contractors and their family members repeatedly viewing the stories of Zkiah’s Instagram account, from private accounts, not company ones. This was whilst simultaneously ignoring her emails asking for help.

Another demand is that she remove all videos and footage of council employees from her social media account. Basically, Greenwich council are shitting the bed because there is footage of them screwing up.

Greenwich council: silence

As the Canary previously reported, Zkiah says Greenwich council are endangering the lives of residents in new-build flats.

For six months, residents at the Ignatius Sancho Road Estate in Kidbrooke have complained of blocked fire escapes, dust from construction sites causing serious health issues, and hazardous air filters that completely contravene fire safety laws.

The Canary approached Greenwich council for comment, but they failed to respond by the deadline we gave them.

The Canary has been cc’d in all emails between Zkiah and the council. In our opinion, we have seen repeated attempts to silence and blame a disabled woman who is simply requesting a healthy, safe environment for her and other residents to live in.

Feature image via Zkiah Smith