Sheku Bayoh inquiry: Family say police gave different accounts of his death

Sheku Bayoh’s sister has said police officers gave his family two completely different stories about what happened on the day he died in custody.

Kadi Johnson told a public inquiry into the death in 2015 that officers initially said her brother was found in the street in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

A senior officer later explained Mr Bayoh died in hospital after being restrained on the ground.

Mrs Johnson said the family lost faith with police after being “lied” to.

She also said they were treated differently because they are black.

The inquiry in Edinburgh is looking into the circumstances of Mr Bayoh’s death after he was restrained by Police Scotland officers on the morning of 3 May 2015.

It is investigating whether race was a factor in the way the police treated the 31-year-old father-of-two and his family.

Mrs Johnson told lead counsel to the inquiry, Angela Grahame KC, that two plain-clothes officers arrived at her house at about 15:00 on 3 May and informed her Mr Bayoh had died.

She said she broke down when hearing the news and her husband Ade asked how Mr Bayoh died.

“They were saying that they were looking for two guys,” Mrs Johnson told the inquiry.

“And the other thing again they said was he was found lying on the road and they called an ambulance and on the way to the hospital he died.”

She added: “I remember Ade saying ‘was he in an accident?’ and they said no. Was he stabbed? They said no.

“How did he die? They said we don’t know, but we are still looking for these guys who might be involved in his death.”

Mrs Johnson said the initial visit lasted around 10 minutes.

She said that about 10 minutes later the officers returned and, reading from a police notebook, told the family that Mr Boyah had died following after falling unconscious during a “forceful arrest”.

The inquiry was shown the page of a police notebook which did not describe the arrest as “forceful”. Mrs Johnson said she was “very clear” that term was used by the officer.

Chief Supt Garry McEwan, who has now retired, arrived at the house later that afternoon, according to Mrs Johnson.

She recalled that he told the family Mr Bayoh had been carrying a machete or knife and had punched and stamped on a female police officer. He explained officers had restrained her brother using batons and spray after he failed to obey police commands.

Mrs Johnson said Mr McEwan was less certain of his explanation after the family expressed its upset and shock at the mention of a machete.

“He said he was holding a machete, then when we reacted to a machete he said it might be a blade or it might be a knife,” she said. “He wasn’t quite sure what the weapon was.”

Mrs Johnson added: “And also for Sheku to have punched, stamped on a police woman, that was shocking to us as well because I couldn’t believe why Sheku should act in such a way.”

She told the hearing: “That’s not the Sheku I know. That’s not the way he was raised.”

Mrs Johnson said that being given different versions of events made the family suspicious of police, prompting them to contact a lawyer.

She told the hearing “they didn’t tell us exactly what happened from the start, that is why we are here”.

Asked if she believed the colour of their skin had played a part, Mrs Johnson replied: “My belief is if we were white maybe we would have been treated differently.”

Ahead of Mrs Johnson’s appearance, her family held a vigil outside the inquiry venue, Capital House in Edinburgh.

The family’s solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said they “believe that they were given several versions of events, that they were repeatedly lied to”.

This week, the inquiry is due to hear from Detective Constable Andrew Mitchell, DC Wayne Parker, Detective Inspector Colin Robson, Alistair Lewis, Martyn Dick and DC David Bellingham.

The £8.97m inquiry, being heard before Lord Bracadale, has previously been shown video of the incident, as well as recordings of police radio and emergency service calls, and 3D modelling of how the scene would have looked in 2015.