Black Lives Matter

“I caught up with Sheku at his house and I tried to calm him and he lashed out at me. It appeared as if he was scared or upset. He punched me a few times but I did not hit him once and am extremely angry at any suggestion or inference that I did. It is an attempt to plant a seed in people’s minds that the main injuries found on Sheku’s face, head and body could have been caused by something other than his contact with the police.” explains Zahid Saeed.

Sheku Bayoh was restrained by up to nine officers using CS spray, batons, wrist and ankle restraints and was pronounced dead two hours after coming into contact with police. A post-mortem examination revealed he had cuts and bruises all over his body, including more than 20 facial injuries.

Police tried to have the body of Sheku Bayoh returned to Sierra Leone two days after his death in custody, it has emerged. They contacted the country’s embassy to discuss repatriating his body but officials in London were alarmed and contacted the father-of-two’s family. Sheku’s brother-in-law Ade Johnson said: “That is not the action of a police force with nothing to hide.” He goes on to say, “It stinks. Mr MacAskill thinks the police have nothing to hide. Why then were Police Scotland looking to send Shek’s body out of the country without consulting his family? And how convenient that Sierra Leone is a country with Ebola and there would have been no returning the body to the UK, helping the cause of death to stay hidden? “Police Scotland knew that Shek lived in Scotland and his next of kin was in Scotland… Then you learn the police are trying to have the body quietly removed from the country. What kind of faith can we have in the police after that? ”