A jury has found that an Angolan who died after being restrained on the ‘plane on which he was being deported from the UK was unlawfully killed.
Jimmy Mubenga died in hospital after three G4S guards held him face down towards a seat for over 30 minutes, despite his complaints that he was unable to breathe. The ‘plane was stopped on the runway at Heathrow airport for Mr Mubenga to be given urgent medical care, but paramedics were unable to revive him.
Passengers on the British Airways ‘plane report hearing the 46-year-old father of five pleading for help. Several witnesses came forward, saying that they heard Mr Mubenga tell the guards he could not breathe and that one guard replied “Yes, you can.”
Guards Terence Hughes, Stuart Tribelnig and Colin Kaler, accompanying Mr Mubenga on the flight in October 2010, gave evidence saying they had not heard him shouting for help and that he had been” resting his head on the seat in front”, voluntarily pushing it down towards his knees despite the position carrying a risk of suffocation.
Henry Blaxland QC, representing Mr Mubenga’s family, suggested the guards were trying to “teach Mubenga a lesson”, adding that they had been pushing Mr Mubenga’s head down to keep him quiet and that they had claimed Mr Mubenga was pushing his own head down as a means of explaining what the other passengers had seen.
After an eight-week hearing, the inquest jury returned a nine to one majority verdict in favour of Mr Mubenga’s wife and family at Isleworth Crown Court. Returning the verdict of unlawful killing, the jury foreman said: “Based on the evidence we have heard, we have found Mr Mubenga was pushed or held down by one or more of the guards (..) We find that this was unreasonable force (..) The guards would have known that they would have caused harm to Mr Mubenga, if not serious harm.”
Despite the seriousness of the accusations, no charges were ever brought against the three guards. Almost two years following their arrest on “suspicion of serious criminal offences”, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press charges. The outcome of the inquest may prompt calls for the case to be reviewed.
Jimmy Mubenga and his wife, Adrienne Makenda Kambana, had been living in Ilford, east London, after arriving in the UK from Angola in 1994. The family was forced to leave Angola after the regime had killed his wife’s father and threatened him and his family because of his activities as a student leader. His wife had fled a few months earlier with their young son, and after a long legal battle the family were granted exceptional leave to remain and they made a new life in London. He worked there for 16 years as a fork lift truck driver, and they had four more children.
He was in the process of applying for permission to stay in the country permanently
