THE family of a Newport man who died after being restrained by police more than a year and a half ago have spoken of their concern about the system in the wake of further deaths at the hands of police.
Mohannad and Mohamed Bashir spoke to the Argus this week about the ongoing wait for the inquest into the death of their brother Mouayed on February 17, 2021.
On that date, Mouayed’s parents called 999 asking for an ambulance as their son was having a bad mental health episode. Police arrived and restrained him on the floor of his bedroom. He died shortly after police restrained him.
When we spoke to Mouayed's brothers on Wednesday, October 26, 615 days had passed since the incident - and the family are still waiting for the outcome of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) report and for the inquest, which has been pushed back a number of times.
“We don’t yet have a new date for the inquest,” said Mohannad. “We are still waiting for the IOPC report to be finalised and to be looked at by the coroner.”
Mohamed questioned the justice system in relation to three cases that have happened involving deaths relating to police activity around the same time – Mohamud Hassan from Cardiff, who died just three weeks before Mouayed following police interaction; Mouayed’s death; and the case of Sarah Everard, who was kidnapped and murdered by a Metropolitan Police officer just a couple weeks after Mouayed’s death.
He highlighted the fact that both his family and the Hassan family are still waiting for justice - while Ms Everard’s family were able to get justice in a relatively short time after her killer – PC Wayne Couzens – was given a whole life term on September 30, 2021.
The brothers accept that there would be a delay due to the fact there is a backlog of cases as a result of the covid pandemic but question how Mouayed’s and Mr Hassan’s is subject to such a long delay, whereas Ms Everard’s was handled in a more timely manner.
Mohamed also highlighted the training that police officers receive and calls for something to be done. According to INQUEST.org.uk, there have been 1,837 deaths in custody or following contact with police officers in England and Wales since 1990.
“How many more have to die before something is done?” he said. “The police are advertising for recruitment which is fine, but they will take the new recruits and train them the same way and so the cycle will continue.”
He also spoke about the system further with how the IOPC handles cases relating to police officers when they are involved in policing themselves.
“When we went to the hospital after Mouayed died, two people from the IOPC came and saw me and I recognised one, so I asked if they were in the firm and they said they used to be police officers.
“If your family member gets killed by a police officer, it gets handed straight over to the IOPC who are still involved in the police and are ex-police officers.
“There’s never going to be an end to this because the people who are there to protect us won’t protect us.”
The brothers agree that the wait and hearing of further deaths makes it hard to trust the police.
“I’m always looking over my shoulder,” said Mohannad. “The wait for justice could take years and our parents could end up not being here to see it, but me and my brother will.”
“You say that, but you could be alive one day and gone the next and our parents could be burying another son. The norm is supposed to be that children outlive their parents but we’re seeing more and more parents burying their children,” said Mohamed.
The brothers are supporting each other through the experience and constantly think about what they will be missing out on with Mouayed.
“As a family, we are doing our best to move forward and carry on with life," said Mohannad. "There have been some good days and some bad days and we are trying to cope with that in the best way possible.
“We are getting amazing support from friends and family around us.”
"We will never see Mouayed get married. We will never have the chance to see Mouayed's children and for the parents to be grandparents, Mouayed never even got to the chance of putting down a mortgage for the family home he always wanted," said Mohamed.
“He was taken away far too young.”
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We offer our condolences again to the family of Mouayed Bashir for the loss of their loved one. In line with procedure, we have provided our investigation report to Gwent Police and the coroner.
"In order to safeguard the future inquest proceedings, and as relatives may be witnesses, we are having to consult with the coroner prior to sharing our report with the family.
"We have facilitated viewing by family members of police body-worn video footage of the tragic events of February 17 last year. We continued to update Mouayed’s family, the coroner and Gwent Police throughout the course of the investigation. Publication of our conclusions is likely to await the future full inquest.”
Gwent Police's deputy chief constable Amanda Blakeman said: “Since the sad death of Mouayed Bashir last year, we’ve co-operated with the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in a transparent manner to support their investigation.
“Several members of Mr Bashir’s family have viewed the body-worn footage, as agreed by the coroner and the IOPC.
“We hope that this has provided a better understanding of events and addresses some of the concerns that they’ve raised with the IOPC.
“As this investigation continues, we’re unable to comment further.
“We’ve invited the family to meet with us to address any remaining issues once the IOPC investigation and inquest conclude.”
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