Episode four: The death message
Description
"I remember asking them because I remember wanting to know what had happened. I mean, he’s not just dropped down dead. And they just said that a passer-by had found him dead on the street." Collette Bell, Sheku's partner
It’s now eight years since Sheku’s loved ones were told by police that he had died. That trauma, they say, was compounded by how the news was broken to them.
They claim that a catalogue of errors, miscommunications and lies within hours of Sheku’s death led to a total breakdown of trust that can’t be regained. Police, meanwhile, admit errors were made but insist the intention was never to misrepresent the truth.
In this episode we’ll hear what Sheku’s partner, Colette, and his older sister Kadi, have told the inquiry about how the news was broken to them, the way details of Sheku's contact with police was held back and the impact that had on the trust they had for the police.
And we’ll also find out what Police Scotland has to say about the decisions made in the hours following the tragic events on the 3rd of May.
Written and produced by Karin Goodwin
Research by Tomiwa Folorunso
Recording, editing & sound design by Halina Rifai
Original music by Alan Bryden
Listen to all the evidence from the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry, or find out how to get a ticket to attend in person at www.shekubayohinquiry.scot
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Script for episode four: The death message
INTRO:
Karin: Early on Sunday, 3 May 2015 Police Scotland’s control room starts to receive calls.
CLIP 1: Hello, there’s a black man, a black man with a knife on Hayfield Road in Kirkcaldy
https://www.shekubayohinquiry.scot/node/170
Time code [5-9seconds]
Police arrive at the scene and within minutes Sheku Bayoh is down on the ground.
After being restrained by up to six officers, he stops breathing.
Many details of what happened that morning are in dispute. His devastated family are still searching for answers.
They want to know what role race played in Sheku’s death. They claim he is Scotland’s George Floyd.
CLIP 3: [From Kadi interview] Sheku died here in Scotland. And we as a family are fighting for changes to happen in Scotland. No family should suffer the way that we are suffering.
Police refute this.
Now a public inquiry - launched in May 2022– is trying to find out what really happened.
Timecode: 13:33
Its purpose is to seek to ascertain the truth. And to that purpose I am fully committed.
https://www.shekubayohinquiry.scot/hearings/preliminary-hearing-1
Timecode: 13:33
Welcome to Sheku Bayoh: the Inquiry – a podcast series from The Ferret.
Episode four: The death message
Karin: I’m Karin Goodwin, co-editor and journalist for The Ferret.
Tomiwa: And I’m Tomiwa Folorunso, a freelance writer and editor.
Welcome back to our podcast about the Sheku Bayoh Inquiry, which is investigating one of the highest profile deaths in Scottish police custody to date.
Karin: It’s now eight years since Sheku’s loved ones were told by police that he had died. That trauma, they say, was compounded by how the news was broken to them.
They claim that a catalogue of errors, miscommunications and lies within hours of Sheku’s death led to a total breakdown of trust that can’t be regained.
Tomiwa: Police, meanwhile, admit errors were made but insist the intention was never to misrepresent the truth.
So in this episode we’ll hear what Sheku’s partner, Colette, and his older sister Kadi, have told the inquiry about how the news was broken to them.
And we’ll also find out what Police Scotland has to say about the decisions made in the hours following the tragic events on the 3rd of May.
Karin: If you’ve not listened to the first three episodes of our series about hearing one, we suggest you go back to those first.
Karin: But for now, let’s go back to the Fife town of Kirkcaldy on the morning of 3 May 2015.
Tomiwa: It’s about 7.30 on Sunday morning and Sheku’s partner Collette Bell is staying at her mum Lorraine’s house, along with her three month old baby boy.
She’s close to her mum. So when Sheku goes out with friends – like he did last night – she stays over with her new baby.
But this morning she hears not from Sheku, but his friend Zahid. Here’s what she told the inquiry about that call.
CLIP 4: I remember receiving a phone call and him sounding quite panicked on the phone, and he was kind of stuttering, trying to say what he was trying to say, and he had said "Nothing to worry about, everything's okay, I'm okay, but Shek's attacked me", and I had said "What do you mean, why, what's gone on?" And he was like "Don't worry, I'm all right, but I just wanted you to know and I don't want you to go home”
Timecode: 30: 34
https://www.shekubayohinquiry.scot/hearings/evidence-collette-bell-09022023-am
Karin: She’s immediately worried, she says, because these two friends are like brothers. They don’t fight.
And Shek - as she calls her partner - is never violent. He’s kind, laidback, always happy. What can be going on?
She wakes her mum to tell her, hands over the baby, dresses hurriedly and drives to her nearby home on Arran Crescent, 15 minutes away, looking for Shek.
Tomiwa: As soon as she gets there she knows something isn’t right. For a start, the door is unlocked.
CLIP 5: I remember opening the door, and I'm kind of shouting "Shek", and I go into the living room and I'm shouting him, and as I come out of the living room and look straight on -- it looks straight on to the kitchen, and the back door was open, the kitchen door. There's coats in front of our sink on the floor, and there was fridge magnets all over the floor and out into the garden, which was really strange, and then I remember running upstairs shouting on Shek to find him.
Karin: In the bedroom the small television and other bits and pieces are on the floor and she remembers wondering - what’s happened? She tries to call him.
CLIP 5b: and I hear his phone ringing in the kitchen and his phone is in the corner of the kitchen on the floor, and I just started to panic straightaway.”
Timecode: 32.48
https://www.shekubayohinquiry.scot/hearings/evidence-collette-bell-09022023-am
Tomiwa: She phones her mum and then calls Zahid again, she’s taken aback by how concerned he is for her safety. Still she gets back in her car to drive around the streets to see if she can spot Sheku but he’s nowhere to be seen. She calls her mum a second time. And it’s her mum who suggests Collete should call the police.
Karin: Here’s the call she made at 8.36am:
I received a phone call from my boyfriend‘s best friend saying that he’s beaten them up like really really bad and he’s scared for safety and I’ve gone home and the door’s wide open my kitchen is trashed and all my boyfriend stuff, like his jacket and his phone, is in the house and he’s missing. I don’t, I mean his best friend is worried he’s going to hurt someone else. It’s totally out of character for him
Timecode: 00:02-0:46
United States
