UK: Ibrahima Sey unlawfully killed
01 November 1997
In October an inquest, at Snaresbrook crown court, into the death of Ibrahima Sey, a Gambian asylum seeker who died after being sprayed with CS gas and restrained by police officers at Ilford police station, returned a verdict of unlawful killing. Following the verdict family members and campaigners called for the prosecution of the police officers involved. Concerns about the safety of CS sprays were raised by the coroner, Dr Harold Price, who recommended that its use by the police should be "urgently reviewed" (see Statewatch Volume 6, nos. 2, 3 & 4).
Ibrahima Sey died on March 16, 1996, after being sprayed with CS gas and "restrained" by several police officers while handcuffed at Ilford police station in east London. Evidence to the inquest established that while Ibrahima was:
"on his knees, with his hands cuffed behind his back, and surrounded by over a dozen police officers in the secure rear yard of the police station, he was sprayed with CS gas, and then, upon being taken into the police station, he was restrained face down on the floor for some 15 minutes or more until he had stopped breathing."
Deborah Coles, co-director of INQUEST, an organisation that monitors deaths in custody, described Ibrahima's treatment as "abhorrent, brutal and inhuman". This treatment was compounded by the fact that one of the officers involved, PC Saunders, told the inquest how he had swapped the handcuffs he had placed on Mr Sey with those of a colleague because he did not want to do the overtime involved in accompanying the prisoner to hospital. Ibrahima was probably already dead at this time.
The outcome of the inquest, which returned a verdict of "unlawful killing", was welcomed by Ibrahima's family. His cousin, Kura Njie, said:
"We are delighted with the verdict because we never believed that Ibrahima's death was a simple accident. It is an outrage and a crime that he was treated so brutally by those who are supposed to defend the public. This is merely the end of the first chapter in our struggle for justice; we demand that the police officers responsible for Ibrahima's death face criminal charges."
The Crown Prosecution Service, which has been repeatedly criticised for the way in which it handles deaths - particularly black deaths - in custody, has said that it will review the case following the verdict. The Metropolitan Police will also submit a report to the Police Complaints Authority. However, neither measure is likely to carry much conviction, and Piara Powar, of the Newham Monitoring Project which has campaigned on behalf of the Sey family, commented:
"There can be no excuse for Barbara Mills, the Director of Public Prosecutions, to avoid instigating criminal proceedings against the officers involved in Ibrahima's death. Public concern at the increasing numbers of black people dying in police custody is being consistently ignored as officers remain outside the law. It seems that police officers are free to kill with impunity."
The Home Office's response to coroner, Dr Harold Price's, request that: "The use of CS gas should be reviewed by all police forces", was predictable. Within a fortnight Home Secretary, Jack Straw, informed an Association of Chief Police Officers' dinner:
"I have read all of the pathologist's reports and other medical and toxicological evidence submitted to the Ibrahima Sey inquest. The coroner's recommendations might lead one to think that the inquest had seen evidence which casts doubt on the acceptability of CS spray but I am satisfied that this is not the case."
Within weeks CS spray was introduced across the country in what Police Review, in an editorial entitled "CS sprays and the Sey inquest", described as "a refreshing example of force management refusing to bow to political and judicial pressure".
It should be noted that there have been numerous other controversial cases of police misuse of CS spray including incidents where it is alleged that they spra