Death In Police Custody: Mouayed Bashir’s Inquest Date Announced.
After an inordinate and inexplicable delay, the Inquest of 29-year-old Mouayed Bashir, who died after being restrained by Gwent Police at his home in Newport, Wales, on the 17th February 2021, will now take place at 9 am on the 13th July 2021 at Coroners Court Gwent, Civic Centre, Newport, NP20 4UR.
His parents had called 999 after Mouayed began to behave erratically. Instead of an ambulance the Police arrived at their home. What they then witnessed was a needlessly aggressive and unnecessary degree of violence and hostility from Gwent police officers in restraining Mouayed.
Gwent Coroner Ms Caroline Saunders has taken some four and half months to open an Inquest, and that delay has added to the pain and anguish felt by the Bashir family. According to figures published on the Ministry of Justice website, Newport Gwent is one of the worst-performing Corners districts in the UK, taking an average of 40 weeks to process inquests compared to the national average of 27 weeks.
Mohannd Bashir, brother of Mouayed statement on behalf of the family.
In addition, the IOPC investigation continues to move at a snail's pace. Some four and half months on and the family are still none the wiser about the number of Gwent police officers interviewed or the number of officers wearing body cams. The Bashir family have still not been granted access to any police bodycam videos that show Mouayed's arrest.
It is in the hands of the IOPC as to whether families get access to CCTV or police bodycam footage. Here they set out their guidance.
The following is an extract from our Family Liaison Policy which provides guidance on the process of how to share footage appropriately with a family using the family liaison route following the death of a person. We should be clear, however, that the decision on whether to share footage lies with the relevant investigation team following advice from the legal team and consultation with the Coroner or other external parties where appropriate.
Guidance regarding showing of CCTV to families
It may be appropriate to allow the families of a person who has died to view CCTV footage that records evidence of the events prior to that person's death or, depending on the likely distress to be caused, the death itself.
Before showing such footage, checks should be made with Legal Services to ensure the viewing will not prejudice our investigation in any way whatsoever. Checks should also be made with the police force or other agencies concerned, for example, the CPS and/or the Coroner, in case they wish to make any representations regarding any adverse implications they foresee that are likely to arise from showing the footage.
What is clear from the guidance is that whether or not a family gets access to film footage is a decision the IOPC can make of its own volition, notwithstanding its requirement to consult. There are occasions where the IOPC has granted access to families to these videos, but the decision varies around the country ranging from routine denial to occasional agreement.
The fact that the Police must be consulted along with others and that the IOPC can withhold a video on public interest grounds, say to avoid inflaming public tensions, or on some spurious legal grounds, is testimony to the extent which local politics, not law, can determine their decisions.
We would argue that allowing the family to see the final moments of their loved one's life in confidence should be a matter of rights, not political or legal interpretation. There should be an automatic presumption that families are allowed access to this information unless there is some compelling reason not to do so. Where that is the case, the families should have a right to see the decision communicated in writing, including the consultative response from the Police, the Crown Prosecution Services and the Coroners office.
Many are rightly suspicious that families are routinely denied access to videos for political rather than substantive legal reasons. Contrast this with the United States, where Ma'Khia Bryant, a black teenager, was shot and killed by an officer in Ohio; the video footage was released publicly in a few hours. Ohio's body-camera policy, signed by Republican governor John Kasich in 2019, makes the footage part of the public record.
It appears to us that the innovation of police officers wearing body cameras was sold to us as being of value to the public in providing public reassurance relating to controversial policing encounters if the public and, more importantly, the victims of deaths in custody then don't have access to the footage in a timely manner.
Mouayed's case, like that of Mohammad Hassan, requires a new level of transparency from the IOPC to meet the #BlackLivesMatter, post-George Floyd test demanded by the public.
Justice must be done and, more importantly, must be seen to be done.
