MOHAMUD HASSAN, A 24-YEAR-OLD BLACK FATHER-TO-BE, WAS VIOLENTLY ARRESTED IN JANUARY 2021 AND DIED SOON AFTER RETURNING HOME FROM CARDIFF BAY POLICE STATION WITH SIGNIFICANT INJURIES
INITIAL STATEMENTS BY SOUTH WALES POLICE SAID THEY FOUND NO EXCESSIVE FORCE HAD BEEN USED, BUT NOW FIVE OFFICERS ARE UNDER INVESTIGATION, WITH THREE OF THOSE BEING PROBED FOR POTENTIAL VIOLENCE DURING AND AFTER THE ARREST
THE FAMILY HAVE BEEN REFUSED BODY-WORN CAMERA AND CCTV FOOTAGE, AND HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO MISLEADING AND FALSE STATEMENTS.
By SC Cook & Mark S Redfern. Illustrations by Veronika Merkova
The investigation into the death of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan, the 24 year old Black man from Cardiff who was taken from his home by South Wales Police on 8th January and pronounced dead the next day, has left his family with many unanswered questions and the ongoing trauma of not knowing how their loved one died.
Often kept in the dark, or told of major developments at the last minute, they have been offered only a drip-feed of selected information by both South Wales Police (SWP) and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) – the body responsible for investigating the death. The IOPC has not even appointed a family liaison officer, leaving his grieving parents to find their own channel of communication.
Mohamud’s family have been refused access to crucial body-worn camera footage, and their lawyer has not been able to view custody records from when the 24 year old was held in Cardiff Bay Police Station.
The truth and accuracy of initial SWP and IOPC statements have been cast into doubt, looking like little more than public relations exercises designed to exonerate the police who took a healthy young man into custody and released him, without charge, to return home covered in blood and bruises.
The life of this father-to-be has been treated cheaply by the authorities, his family disrespected and their wishes disregarded. Meanwhile, those protesting his death have faced intimidation, police fines and arrest.
This is the timeline of a growing scandal.
Mohamud Hassan’s Arrest and Death
On the evening of 8th January, police arrested Mohamud Hassan, 24, in his flat on Newport Road, Roath, and transported him to Cardiff Bay Police Station.
The family would find out a month later that as Mohamud was in-transit, he was heard on body-worn footage “to complain of having a fit, suffering a migraine, and displayed signs of experiencing pain.” Arresting officers are alleged to have not passed this vital information on to custody staff, a potentially life changing dereliction of care.
South Wales Police released him the following morning without charge, and he left the station at around 8.30am. From there, Mohamud took a short walk to the taxi rank near the Tesco express, New George St, Cardiff Bay. When he got in the cab, he told the driver that he had been assaulted by the police, a detail confirmed to lawyer Hillary Brown just days later.
Mohamud arrived back at his home and told a friend who he met there that “the police have beat the shit out of me,” according to a blog by family representative Lee Jasper, who first published news of the death.
Hillary Brown, the civil rights lawyer working on the case who spoke to voice.wales for this article, said that a family relative who lived in the same block of flats saw Mohamud Hassan and immediately called his aunt, Zainab Hassan, who came quickly. He told both that he had been assaulted by the police.
He went to bed, exhausted, after his aunt pleaded with him to go to A&E for treatment.
Speaking two days later, on 11th January, Mohamud’s aunt told the BBC: “He was released on Saturday morning with lots of wounds on his body and lots of bruises… He didn’t have these wounds when he was arrested, and when he came out of Cardiff Bay police station, he had them.”
Family members soon realised that Mohamud wasn’t breathing and took him from his bed and into the kitchen, where attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. Father-to-be Mohamud Hassan was pronounced dead by paramedics that day, the same day he returned from police custody, 9th January 2021.
A pathologist appointed by authorities found signs of physical trauma, including bruising and a split-lip could have resulted from a “punch or a slap,” in an autopsy of Mohamud’s body, confirming eyewitness testimonies.
The pathologist, whose findings were reported by family advocate Lee Jasper, also confirmed that Mohamud had suffered bruising that was consistent with “impact on hard surfaces”. Lawyer Hillary Brown attended the pathology investigation. She told voice.wales that she also saw significant injuries to the mouth area.
Following the initial pathology report, MS Brown said: “Mohamud had no underlying conditions. There was nothing wrong with his heart, or his brain, or his liver, or his spleen, that could account for why a healthy young man would go to his bed and then die.”
An independent toxicology report has also shown no signs of drug or alcohol use, bringing into question the statement of the IOPC on 12th January, which pointed to potential substance misuse as an explanation.
Brown continued: “The more that we establish that there were no pre-existing conditions that led to his death, the more that we extend our questions as to, if it was not a natural death then it had to be an unnatural death.”
Police Response
South Wales Police were made aware of Mohamud’s story spreading over social media after a blog post by family representative Lee Jasper detailed the shocking circumstances surrounding the death. The police sought to quell the anger with a carefully-worded press release on Monday, 10th January.
The force announced that they had referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct to investigate Mohamud’s death but added: “Early findings by the force indicate no misconduct issues and no excessive force.”
“We did this not because we thought that police officers had done anything wrong, but because it was the right thing to do,” said SWP Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan in a confidently written statement on 15th January, regarding the IOPC referral.
Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales Alun Michael also told the public, pre-autopsy report, that: “We now know that there is no physical trauma injury to explain a cause of death and it is important that we await the outcome of the independent investigation before drawing conclusions about what happened.”
The IOPC then saw it necessary to release a statement days after Mohamud Hassan died which said that even though they were awaiting an “interim report from a post mortem examination,” they were still in a position to declare that: “Preliminary indications are that there is no physical trauma injury to explain a cause of death, and toxicology tests are required.”
All of these statements have since come undone, or at least been thrown into doubt, by the raft of misconduct investigation notices handed down to officers and the IOPC’s own statements about what has been revealed through the body-worn camera footage, of which there is more on later. But each statement paints an early picture of no police wrongdoing, without giving any firm evidence to back this up.
The police and IOPC also responded to demands for access to crucial video footage of the hours leading up to the death. The family themselves asked for body camera footage to be released to them straight away, but this has been consistently refused.
South Wales Police instead said they had released all “relevant footage” to the IOPC and this meant that “the footage cannot be released by South Wales Police while the IOPC is investigating.”
On the day an inquest was opened, 4th March 2021, the IOPC revealed for the first time that there had been “slippage” and “some issues” with obtaining video footage from South Wales Police.
But the family’s representatives have questioned why releasing the footage to the family would jeopardise the IOPC investigation, and say it should be a basic principle of human rights that parents or next-of-kin be given access to footage after a death of this nature.
Outgoing MS Bethan Sayed has demanded the body-cam footage be released to the Hassan family.
Even though the police said in their update on 15th January, in an attempt to quell these demands, that they had “provided all relevant CCTV footage and body-worn video to the IOPC,” it later emerged that this may not have been the case.
On the day an inquest was opened, 4th March 2021, the IOPC revealed for the first time that there had been “slippage” and “some issues” with obtaining video footage from South Wales Police. It is not clear what these issues are.
Community Response
Anger from the community following news of Mohamud Hassan’s death led to four days of protests in front of Cardiff Bay Police station, supported by anti-racist groups and others.
Following the protests, Black Lives Matter Cardiff & Vale wrote in a comment piece: “For four days, for hours at a time, over two hundred of us occupied James Street. For many, the police station is a symbol of trauma, of brutality, and of a system that does not value Black lives.”
“And with each passing day, the protests became more radical, almost as if people felt comforted by their community, comforted hearing that they were not alone, that they also have been a victim of racist, violent policing. By the fourth day people were chanting, without fear, what they really thought of the police.”
South Wales Police immediately tried to crack down on the protests, arriving with vans outside the house of a young BLM activist Bianca Ali, and issuing a £500 fine under Covid legislation after accusing her of organising the events. The fine was quickly paid by supporters in a display of public solidarity.
IOPC Investigation
The transparency of the IOPC investigation has been brought into question since its very beginning, when the body was accused of coordinating its initial response with South Wales Police, and pre-emptively ruling out physical trauma as a cause of death.
Even before the case of Mohamud Hassan, the IOPC was seen as ineffective. In June last year, Black families whose loved ones had died in incidents involving the police called for its abolition, citing lack of prosecutions and multiple failures. Under this backdrop, the body is under mounting pressure to investigate the case
On 2nd February it was revealed, after the IOPC told attendees of a community meeting, that 52 police officers came into contact with Mohamud Hassan from the time of his arrest to when he was released without charge.
“Such numbers would typically indicate the arrest and detention of a terrorist suspect or mass murderer,” said family representative Lee Jasper, who was also barred from attending the meeting.
As campaigners for the family continued to seek key information about what happened to Mohamud, the IOPC announced on 15th February that an officer had been served a misconduct notice for not passing on vital information to custody officers about Mohumud’s deteriorating health.
In issuing the notice, officials also gave some detail on Mohamud’s condition after arrest, admitting that he “was heard on body-worn camera to complain of having a fit, suffering a migraine, and displayed signs of experiencing pain.”
The officer in question was accused of ignoring Mr Hassan’s pleas and not passing this vital information on to the custody sergeant.
After a confusing back-and-forth between the IOPC and South Wales Police, voice.wales found that the force refused to suspend the officer during the investigation into his possible role in Mohamud’s death.
Hilary Brown, of Virgo Consultancy, and legal representative for the Hassan family, told voice that: “If what we’re reading is correct, then we don’t believe it is misconduct, we believe it is gross misconduct.”
“The police were the guardians of his health and wellbeing, and the officer was obligated to pass on information. It was his duty to ensure [Mohamud’s] rights were protected…he was in a state of some distress.”
The “honesty and integrity” of one custody officer is under investigation due to “entries the officer made on the custody record.” It is not yet clear what this relates to specifically, but could indicate that Mohamud Hassan’s physical state was inaccurately documented when he arrived at the station, or a record was changed at a later date.
Then came the news of another young Black man in South Wales to die after use of excessive force by police.
In Newport, protests erupted when the sudden news broke of the death of 24-year-old Mouyaed Bashir, during a violent restraint by officers of Gwent Police just two days after the IOPC misconduct revelations.
On 2nd March, the IOPC released a further update on Mohamud, where they said they were speaking to a total 46 police officers in relation to his death, a large number given that he was in custody for only 10 hours.
In this same update, the body also said that 11 officers had attended the Newport Road address on 8th January in response to “a caller” who claimed that five men had entered the property and were “fighting” with the five men inside. The IOPC says body cam footage shows that a “number of the occupants had injuries” when police arrived, but doesn’t name Mohamud Hassan as one of these.
Writing in response to the update, Mr Jasper said that there is “no evidence” of five men entering the flat and fighting with those inside, and suggests that similar ‘emergency calls’ were made on 10th January, implying that they were a hoax or someone trying to get the police’s attention.
The 2nd March IOPC update, coming 51 days after Mohamud Hassan’s death, was the first mention of a fight in the flat, leading to speculation about why the police or IOPC did not reveal this in their initial updates. No further information on the claim, or who the other nine men were, has been put forward. Despite this, the details of the update were reported widely in the media by BBC and others.
It is also worth noting in this context that Mohamud Hassan was arrested for breach of the peace, but not charged with any offence. There is no indication whatsoever, according to lawyer Hillary Brown, that anyone else was arrested on the evening of 8th January, even though the IOPC update paints a picture of fighting at the property which led to several injuries.
The IOPC has also been criticised for woefully inadequate communication with the family, not even appointing a family liaison officer. Where statements have said that information has already been passed onto the family before being put into the public domain, this has actually meant sending press releases to their legal representatives an hour beforehand. This issue was raised, but in response, the IOPC only made the situation worse.
Mohammed Hassan’s aunt, Zainab, was then unexpectedly copied into a press release from the IOPC that contained details of the further officer suspensions, causing her to break down at work.
This has only added to the accusation that the IOPC has little regard for Black families who are forced to rely on it in their fight for justice, and that the body is an unofficial extension of the police themselves.
Even though there has been a staggering 1,781 deaths following police contact since 1990 in England and Wales, zero police officers have been successfully prosecuted for these crimes.
These statistics are not eased by knowing that as of 2019, 40% of senior Investigators employed by the IOPC are former police staff.
The problem of hiring ex-cops became so rife within the IOPC that some senior positions had to be earmarked as civilian-only, to try and shore up public confidence.
Police Retaliation
On 22nd February, protestors spoke about attempts of intimidation from cops, with officers targeting “younger people or people with children” with “aggressive” dispersal tactics to thin the crowds that gathered outside Cardiff Bay Police Station.
Local community activists staged many protests against South Wales Police, their lack of accountability and role in Mohamud Hassan’s death.
The force started cracking down on demonstrators in March, dragging one from his bed and taking him to his local station. When asked why cops had targeted this individual, he was told that South Wales Police had combed through hours of bodycam footage to identify targets.
The unnamed man, who remained anonymous to avoid further police harassment, said about his experience: “I’m here as a member of the community, as a member of Grangetown docks, Riverside, all of us need to stand together. Because at the end of the day, you know, we’re all brothers and sisters, we all look out for each other.”
“[South Wales Police] understand that they’re wrong so they’re coming for you. Because, you know, when someone’s lying and you catch them out they get angry, don’t they? That’s what the police are doing. We caught them out lying and they’re coming at us.”
New Misconduct Notices
Following the protests and the initial investigation, officials from the IOPC served further notices of misconduct investigation to officers who had contact with Mohamud during his stay in custody.
A further three South Wales Police officers, and one custody detention officer, were told by the IOPC that their actions were being investigated for a variety of suspected misconduct charges on 16th March.
The “honesty and integrity” of one custody officer is under investigation due to “entries the officer made on the custody record.” It is not yet clear what this relates to specifically, but could indicate that Mohamud Hassan’s physical state was inaccurately documented when he arrived at the station, or a record was changed at a later date.
A police officer that had previously been under investigation regarding Mohamud had their misconduct notice escalated to a gross misconduct probe, after the IOPC said footage showed him potentially ignoring Mohamud Hassan having a seizure in the back of a police van.
This has prompted the legal team to ask why there was a gap between the two notices being served, as if the IOPC failed to watch the footage all the way through.
Two further officers are being probed for excessive use of force on the night of the arrest, another for their use of force in the custody suite, and one more for suspected inadequate welfare checks.
In short, there are five members of South Wales Police under investigation for the death of Mohamud. Three of those notices for unwarranted violence and two for failing in their duty of care.
It should also be noted that the harshest consequence of a misconduct probe is a written warning. An officer will only be sacked from the force due to a charge of gross misconduct or greater.
These new revelations contradict Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan’s first statement on Mohamud’s death, who sought to combat the public outrage by downplaying the severity of the incident.
Lee Jasper, of BAME Lawyers for Justice, said that the family is demanding Vaughan’s resignation in light of these new misconduct notices: “The Hassan family are seeking public support for this demand.”
“It cannot be right that Vaughan, having defended his officers and determining that none of his officers had “done anything wrong”, then suffers no sanction when we now know that five of his officers face serious investigation.”
“Quite clearly, his position is now untenable. Trust and confidence are essential to good community relations. [The] Chief Constable’s words are important, particularly in response to a suspicious death in police custody. His instinctive defence of his officers implied that Hassan’s family accusations of police brutality were unfounded.”
“That he made this statement and its implied assertion that the family were wrong, in the absence of any objective evidence is deeply disingenuous.”
To date it appears that not a single officer has been suspended in the case.
Inquest
On 4th March an inquest into the death of Mohamud Hassan was launched at Pontypridd Coroner’s Court. It heard that the cause of death was “unascertained” and the forensic pathologist who carried out the examination was unable to advance a medical cause of death.
The family have retained the services of Michael Mansfield QC, the leading civil rights barrister who worked on the Birmingham Six and Jean Charles de Menezes cases, among other high profile ones. Mansfield attended the inquest which was held online.
An investigation will now be held into the case, but the pre-inquest review isn’t scheduled until 3rd December this year. Under pressure from the legal representatives, the coroner agreed to give an update in August.
Acting senior coroner for South Wales Central Graeme Hughes has said the court will liaise with the IOPC ahead of their initial report, but this has prompted concerns that the inquest will be influenced by the IOPC’s investigation, which is expected to take another six months.
The family also discovered at the inquest that there had been “some issues” with the IOPC obtaining CCTV footage from South Wales Police. It is unclear exactly what these issues are, and it emerged that the family had not been told about these issues in advance, despite having demanded the footage for since the beginning.
The coroner was also criticised for refusing to order translation services for the family, leaving their lawyer, Hillary Brown, to create a makeshift inquest room for Mohamud Hassan’s mother and father, who do not speak English as their first language, just so they could be told what was being said.
Ms Brown has said the family are ‘on their knees’ with grief and feel let down by the police and the IOPC, but the campaign and the fight for justice will continue. They are asking everyone in the growing movement to join them in demanding release of the body cam and CCTV footage.
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