A hard fought campaign by family and friends of Abdi Dorre, has forced the Crown Prosecution Service to bring charges against two men.

By Robert Mendick, The Independent, 11 August 2002

Abdi Dorre, an asylum-seeker from Somalia, died two years ago today, after falling down 16 concrete steps in a nightclub.

Despite evidence to suggest Mr Dorre might have been pushed down the stairs - he had been captured on CCTV arguing with two bouncers moments before he died - nobody has been charged with the killing.

Until now. Later this month, two men will appear before magistrates where they will be charged with manslaughter in connection with Mr Dorre's death. His family, after a relentless campaign first highlighted by The Independent on Sunday, believes it may finally see British justice done after two years of frustration.

Initially, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) refused to bring charges, telling Mr Dorre's family as long ago as October 2000 there was "insufficient evidence" to mount a prosecution. Relatives, convinced the investigation into Mr Dorre's death had been given a low priority because of his status as a refugee, were undeterred. After pressure from Mr Dorre's family and a series of demonstrations in Northampton, the CPS decided in February to take a second look at the case. That decision coincided with a lengthy article published in The Independent on Sunday.

Last week, the CPS announced charges were now being brought against two men, after taking advice from a senior independent barrister outside the Northamptonshire branch of the CPS.

Dan Rubinstein, the family's solicitor, who battled to get the case looked at again, said: "It has only been pressure from the family and their campaign that has achieved this result. I think the fact that Abdi was a Somali refugee perhaps meant to the authorities that his death didn't matter so much."

Mr Dorre, 31, had been in the UK only six months before his death at the Lounge nightclub. The two bouncers allegedly involved in the incident stopped working there soon after.

Quorshe Maxamed, Mr Dorre's sister, has co-ordinated the campaign for justice, organising demonstrations and bringing in Mr Rubinstein, a lawyer with Imran Khan & Partners, the law firm that represents the parents of Stephen Lawrence. Ms Maxamed, an asylum-seeker living in Milton Keynes, said: "At least now there may be justice. We just feel very, very sad - the way he died and the way the police have treated us."

Another sister, Deqa Dorre, who lives in Canada, told the IoS: "This has been a nightmare and an emotional rollercoaster. Now I just want to see justice done, but it is not over yet and there is a long way to go."

http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=323408

Back ground:

Justice ª Prosecution Service to reopen file as relatives claim police failed to treat case seriously because he was an asylum-seeker

By Robert Mendick

10 February 2002

The last moments of Abdi Dorre's life were captured on CCTV. The images show him at the top of concrete stairs arguing with two bouncers, who are apparently trying to remove him from a nightclub. Moments later, Mr Dorre, an asylum-seeker from Somalia, plunged down 16 steps, cracked his head on a brick floor and died.

Mr Dorre's family and solicitor are convinced that the towering, 6ft 9in man was pushed down the stairs. But the man they believe to be the killer has not been charged.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which up until now has insisted there is insufficient evidence to bring charges, last night announced it was independently reviewing the decision not to prosecute and ordering the police to resubmit the file on the case.

In transcripts of police interviews, seen by The Independent on Sunday, and at the subsequent inquest, one of the bouncers accuses his colleague, Dave Trasler, of hitting Mr Dorre and then pushing him forcefully down the stairs.

Later, according to the other bouncer, Mr Trasler is said to have joked: "I thought these coons were supposed to have hard heads." At the inquest and in interview, Mr Trasler denied pushing Mr Dorre down the stairs or referring to him as a "coon".

Lawyers acting for the family of Mr Dorre, who had three children, claim his status as an asylum-seeker meant the case did not receive top priority, an accusation vehemently denied by the CPS and Northamptonshire police. Mr Dorre, 31, had been in the UK only six months when he died following the fall at the Lounge nightclub in Northampton, just after midnight on 11 August 2000.

The CCTV camera which would have shown whether Mr Dorre fell or was pushed switches to another viewpoint seconds before the fall, while 14 minutes of CCTV footage, covering the period immediately after Mr Dorre's death, is missing from the tape. It has fuelled the family's conviction that Mr Dorre, who had been drinking, was manhandled as he was removed from the Lounge for pestering female clubbers.

"I am convinced Abdi was pushed down the stairs," said his sister Quorshe Maxamed, an asylum-seeker living in Milton Keynes. "They think because we are a minority we don't know anything about the law so they don't have to do anything." The inquest last summer returned an open verdict. The coroner, unable to conclude quite how Mr Dorre died, rejected calls for a verdict of unlawful killing.

The Lounge's manager has dismissed the family's claims. "It was an accident. It was a terrible thing that happened," Jeremy Sphoggaras told the IoS. "I feel sorry for the family but this has been going on for a long time and there is nothing more that can be said about it."

He said police had taken away the CCTV tape but could find no evidence it had been tampered with. He explained 14 minutes were missing from the tape because he had stopped it to see if it showed how Mr Dorre died. The cameras routinely flicked from one area to another, and missed the incident.

Ms Maxamed is continuing her fight for justice, organising marches on Northampton police station, supported by members of the area's burgeoning Somali community. She has enlisted the help of Imran Khan, the London solicitor who acts for the family of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence. His law firm is considering legal action to overturn the Crown Prosecution Service's decision not to bring charges.

Dan Rubinstein, the lawyer acting for the Mr Dorre's family, last week wrote to the CPS demanding it reopen the case. He said: "I get the feeling because Abdi Dorre was Somali police have not pursued this as vigorously as they might have done."

Derek Talbot, Northamptonshire Police's assistant chief constable, denies the accusation. "We very much regret the unfortunate death of Mr Dorre and our sympathy goes out to the family but we have done everything possible to investigate his death fairly, thoroughly and properly," he said. He added that the coroner had praised the police's handling of the investigation while Mr Talbot had called in an outside force to independently review the investigation. It found the inquiry "well run and the case investigated diligently".

The bouncers questioned over the incident - Mr Trasler and Fahad Nezhadpournia - both stopped working for the club following the death. They are both reported to have moved away from the area and this newspaper was unable to contact them.

In police interviews read out at Mr Dorre's inquest the two bouncers give differing accounts. Insisting that Mr Dorre lost his balance and accidentally tripped and fell, Mr Trasler at first says: "He was never meant, you know, to die, or anything like that. Things like that should never happen. It's just an accident." Later he admitted grabbing hold of a bottle out of Mr Dorre's hand and then shoving him away.

Mr Nezhadpournia also changed his story during the course of the police interview. He told police that Mr Trasler "hit his [Dorre's] hand hard enough for the bottle to hit the floor and then I saw him pushing. I only saw the one arm but it was a very forceful push". At the inquest, he maintained that version of events.

Following Mr Dorre's death, Mr Nezhadpournia said in police interview that he had received a phone call from Mr Trasler. "Dave sounded worried and nervous ... He just said: 'I'm going to say it was an accident and that he slipped' and he said 'and I want you to say the same'." At the inquest, Mr Trasler denied such a conversation took place, maintaining throughout that the death was an accident.

Meanwhile, Ardo Dorre, who now lives in Holland but is visiting her daughter in Milton Keynes, is still looking for answers to explain her son's death. "He has died without reason," she says sorrowfully. "He lost his life so cheap and so young."

http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=119222