Sheku Bayoh inquiry hears from neighbours

A NEIGHBOUR invited Sheku Bayoh into his home for a cup of coffee hours before he died after being restrained by police.

Neil Morgan told an inquiry his daughter reported seeing Mr Bayoh “fighting someone” in a nearby garden in Kirkcaldy’s Arran Crescent, some time after 6am on May 3 2015.

Mr Morgan went outside to investigate because he thought neighbours might be getting robbed and saw Mr Bayoh holding a knife in his right hand as he returned home.

When asked by Angela Grahame QC if he had any concerns about approaching Mr Bayoh that morning, Mr Morgan replied: “Not at all.

“I said ‘look, come back to the house, something’s upset you, have a cup of coffee or tea.”

Another neighbour of Mr

Bayoh’s, Naomi Rhodes, told the inquiry she was woken up by shouting at around 6am that morning and saw two men fighting outside from her bedroom window.

Mrs Rhodes agreed with her own witness statement from the time that she could hear the other man in the brawl saying “please stop, I’m sorry.”

Mr Bayoh, who was 31, later died in police custody after being restrained by officers who were responding to calls from the public.

A close friend of Mr Bayoh, Zahid Saeed – the father of murdered Edinburgh toddler Mikaeel Kular – claimed during the inquiry yesterday his friend was “murdered” at the hands of police officers that morning.

The inquiry before Lord Bracadale continues.