Foreigners

by Caryl Phillips

  The trial concerning the death of David Oluwale took place in November 1971. It opened on 11 November and lasted thirteen days, concluding on 24 November. The judge was Mr Justice Hinchcliffe (seventy-one). Prosecuting for the Crown was Mr John Cobb (forty-eight) and the barristers for the two defendants were Mr Gilbert Gray (forty-three) representing former Inspector Ellerker, and Mr Basil Widoger (fifty) representing Sergeant Kitching. The jurors included two women and one coloured man. The first defendant, Sergeant Kenneth Mark Kitching (forty-nine) of Blakeney Grove, Hunslet, was born in 1922. Sergeant Kitching had joined the police force in August 1950. He was married, but without children. He was described as an 'old time' sergeant who was proud of the fact that he chose to wear a helmet as opposed to a peaked cap. He stuck to a regular routine, which usually involved rising at lunchtime, having a few pints of beer in a 'police' pub, returning home for a meal and some sleep before reporting to Millgarth Station for the night shift. He was known to be Ellerker's right-hand man and confidant. His co-defendant was former Inspector Geoffrey Ellerker (thirty-eight) of Church Lane, Horsforth. Born in 1933, former Inspector Ellerker had joined the police force in December 1956. He was married with two children, a boy and a girl. He was made a sergeant in 1964, but in April 1968 he was promoted to uniformed inspector and put in charge of the night shift at Millgarth Station, overseeing the south section of the city centre. Between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. he was the highest-ranking officer on duty, but he harboured a well-known ambition to be a non-uniform inspector and was somewhat frustrated in his career. Both men were, at the time of the alleged crime, serving in the A Division of the Leeds City Police Force. Both men were charged with the manslaughter of David Oluwale. At the time that the charges were brought in April 1971, Geoffrey Ellerker was in Lincoln jail. In December 1969 a seventytwo-year-old lady was knocked down and killed by a car that was driven by a superintendent of police. Ellerker attempted to cover up for his fellow officer, claiming that he could smell alcohol on the breath of the victim. It later transpired that the victim was teetotal. Ellerker was found guilty of misconduct as an officer of justice and he received a nine-month prison term. Already discredited as a former police officer, the David Oluwale case would thrust Ellerker, together with the middle-aged sergeant, back into the limelight for it was claimed that the pair of them had 'hounded and tormented' Oluwale before he drowned in April 1969. They enjoyed, what they called, 'tickling' the Nigerian vagrant with their boots, and on one occasion it was alleged that Oluwale was actually lifted off the ground, within the confines of Millgarth Station, when Ellerker kicked him hard between the legs. It was claimed that such incidents were habitual pastimes for the two officers who made it their business to terrorise a defenceless man. The case had come to light because a little over a year after the death of David Oluwale in April 1969, an eighteen-year-old police cadet, Gareth Galvin, overheard rumours of what had really happened to the Nigerian vagrant. He informed his sergeant at the cadet training school, who in turn passed on young Gareth Galvin's concerns to his own superiors. Eventually police headquarters at Scotland Yard in London became involved and the 'Oluwale Squad' was set up on the third floor of Leeds' Westgate Police Station. The squad was established with great secrecy, and under very tight security, with the investigation being led by Detective Chief Superintendent James Fryer and Detective Chief Inspector Len Shakeshaft, both of Leeds Criminal Investigation Department. They set about interviewing every policeman and woman, and every traffic warden in Leeds; in the end they interviewed 1,170 men and women, including Kitching and Ellerker. During interrogation, Kitching denied giving anything other than the odd slap to David Oluwale, but he went on and said, 'I can only describe him [Oluwale] as a wild animal, not a human being.' As the concerns of the 'Oluwale Squad' deepened a new post-mortem was ordered. A Home Office pathologist travelled from London to Leeds, and it was shortly after he had completed his work that Sergeant Kitching and former Inspector Ellerker were charged with manslaughter.

  At the trial the defendants' lawyers sought to 'characterise' David Oluwale. They presented him to the jury as a man born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1930 as a member of the Yoruba tribe. He was, according to them, possibly a fisherman. He had stowed away to England in 1949 and arrived as an illegal teenage immigrant in Hull. He was sentenced to twenty-eight days in jail for this crime, and he began his sentence at Armley jail on 3 September, 1949. As far as the defence was concerned, Oluwale was 'not quite educationally subnormal', but he was certainly not 'bright'. Variously known to the police as 'Ollie', 'Ali', 'Uggi', or 'Lone Duckie', he was a loner with not many friends. His mental health problems allegedly began in 1953, and he entered High Royds Hospital in Menston where he was a patient for the next eight years. The defence called Dr Richard Corty, who was the consulting psychiatrist at High Royds. The doctor stated that, 'at times [Oluwale was] completely withdrawn and inaccessible and on other occasions aggressive, noisy, violent, and disturbed . . . He was hallucinating – he saw animals, lions with fish's heads and said these animals were going to kill and eat him . . . He bit people, spat, but his condition gradually improved so that he was no longer giggling and talking to himself in a confused or childish manner. Originally he would defecate and urinate in the ward. He had two jobs but lost them through fighting and stealing.' The defence then called a staff nurse, a Mr Eric Dent, who described Oluwale as 'built like a miniature Mr Universe and [he] could take more punishment than Cassius Clay'. Mr Dent went on to assert that Oluwale was 'like a savage animal'.

  The defence claimed that during his twenty years in England, Oluwale had been imprisoned on numerous occasions for assault on police, disorderly conduct, and 'walking abroad'. He had often been picked up under Section 4 of the Vagrancy Act, 1824, which empowered the police with the right to stop anyone they suspected of committing an offence. According to the police, Oluwale had often been violent to those who had crossed his path, and he habitually used newspapers for sheets and a duffel bag for a pillow. He was no more than a 'dosser' who didn't work, and he was not acceptable as an inmate of a hostel. All Ellerker and Kitching wanted was a 'clean city' and, with this in mind, Oluwale was a problem. The defence argued that this was a man who drew social security payments so that he might simply spend them on alcohol. According to former Inspector Ellerker, 'Oluwale was a small, chunky man, filthy in his personal habits. He was not the sort of man one wanted to grapple with too long or too close . . . His language was dirty, and he was fluent in the use of four-letter words . . . when Oluwale became excited he would set up a highpitched screaming noise – although nothing was happening to him. He would scream and shout before being spoken to.' Chief Superintendent Leonard Barker appeared for the defence and reminded the court that Sergeant Kitching had recently been presented with a Humane Society Award for rescuing a man who had fallen into the River Aire.

  The prosecution presented a somewhat different version of events. They spoke of the continued harassment that Oluwale had been subjected to since arriving in England as a teenager, and how this harassment became more systematic and malicious between August 1968 and his death in April 1969. During this eight-month period David Oluwale was relentlessly hounded by Sergeant Kitching and former Inspector Ellerker. On 27 September, 1968, David was jailed for six months for alleged assault on the police and Sergeant Kitching told a colleague, Police Constable Yeager, that he could not wait for Oluwale to come out because 'there wasn't another one like him'. David was released from prison on 10 April, 1969 and eight days later, on the morning of 18 April, he drowned in the River Aire. The court was told that Sergeant Kitching and former Inspector Ellerker had made it clear that they did not want David Oluwale within the boundaries of the city of Leeds. Any sighting of David Oluwale was to be reported directly to them, and an officer was once reproved by them for dealing with Oluwale directly.

  It became well known at Millgarth Station that if ever Oluwale was sighted within the town a message had to passed through for them [Kitching and
Ellerker] to go out and deal with him. They were off in quick pursuit as soon as the message was received.

  John Cobb, Crown Prosecutor

  The prosecution called Police Constable Cyril Batty who testified that in May 1968 he had witnessed Sergeant Kitching urinating on David Oluwale in Lands Lane in the centre of Leeds. Former Inspector Ellerker was holding a torch, but at the time Police Constable Batty chose to say nothing in order that he might protect his career.

  Kitching and Ellerker were pushing Oluwale like a plaything, backwards and forwards, with the flat of their hands. Oluwale was clasping his duffel bag, containing all his worldly possessions.

  John Cobb, Crown Prosecutor

  They told him [Oluwale] to get up. He was on his hands and knees and the sergeant and the inspector kicked them away, causing him to fall. The inspector started to beat him about the head and shoulders with his duffel bag.

  PC Seager

  On another occasion, on 7 August, 1968, the two defendants radioed a call to Police Constable Keith Seager. Upon arrival, Seager was instructed by Sergeant Kitching and former Inspector Ellerker to drive them, plus David Oluwale, to Bramhope village on the outskirts of Leeds. Once there Police Constable Seager was instructed to stop outside of the Fox and Hounds public house and David Oluwale was ordered to get out and knock on the door of the pub and ask for a cup of tea. It was four o'clock in the morning. Police Constable Seager drove his fellow officers back to Leeds city centre and left David Oluwale in Bramhope.

  The entry [in my notebook] which Ellerker told me to make was not true. I told him I did not like the idea.

  PC Seager

  The prosecution asserted that on other occasions David Oluwale had been driven by the defendants to Middleton Woods in South Leeds and left there in the middle of the night. Police Constable Phillip Ratcliffe and former Police Constable Hazel Dalby both saw the defendants kick Oluwale so hard in the groin that he was lifted off the floor. They saw David Oluwale crying silent tears of pain and emitting no noise.

  I have never seen a man crying so much and never utter a sound.

  PC Phillip Ratcliffe

  Police Constable Kenneth Higgins testified that the defendants made David Oluwale bump his head hard against the floor. He heard Sergeant Kitching claim that both he and former Inspector Ellerker made David Oluwale bow down before them, and he heard Sergeant Kitching say, on reading the report of Oluwale's death, that 'it looks as though we shall have to find a new playmate now'. When Oluwale's body was found, PC Seager remembered Sergeant Kitching reading a teleprinter message about the death. 'He looked at me and said: "I wonder how he got in there." It was in a jovial sense; he was smiling.' Police Constable Frank Atkinson fainted after giving evidence that he had seen Oluwale beaten up at the police station.

  I have made a search of prison records in respect of a man named David Oluwale or Oluwole or Uluwale or Oluwuala or Uluwle.

  Marjorie Whitaker, Executive Officer in the Discipline Office at HMP Leeds

  1. Admitted 2.9.49 Sentence Stowaway – 28 days imprisonment. Discharged 30.9.49

  2. Admitted 27.4.53 Sentence 1. Assault Police – 2 months imprisonment. Sentence 2. Wilful Damage – 1 month imprisonment concurrent. Sentence 3. Disorderly conduct – 28 days concurrent. Discharged 6.6.53 to St James' Hospital.

  3. Admitted 22.9.62 as Oluwole. Malicious Wounding – 6 months imprisonment. Transferred to Hull 25.10.62. Released 2.2.63

  4. Admitted 13.4.64 Disorderly Conduct – 28 days. Discharged 6.5.64 (fine paid)

  5. Admitted 16.10.64 Drunk and Disorderly – 14 days. Plus 28 days on Lodged Warrant for D&D. Discharged 16.11.64

  6. Admitted 13.10.65 Hospital Order, transferred to Menston 11.11.65

  7. Admitted 29.8.67 as Olowuala. Wandering Abroad. Discharged 23.9.67

  8. Admitted 27.10.67 Wandering Abroad. Discharged 1.12.67

  9. Admitted 26.12.67 1. Wandering Abroad. 2. Indecent Exposure – 3 months imprisonment. Transferred to Preston Prison 3.1.68. Released 29.3.68

  10. Admitted 4.9.68 Assaulting a Police Officer. Transferred to Preston Prison, 10.1.69

  11. Admitted 13.1.69 Disorderly Conduct. Discharged 23.1.69

  12. Admitted 27.1.69 Disorderly Conduct. Discharged 5.2.69

  13. Admitted 24.2.69 Disorderly Conduct. Discharged 8.3.69

  14. Admitted 12.3.69 Trespass Railway. Disorderly Conduct. Discharged 10.4.69

  On 10 April, 1969 I was on early reception duty. One of my duties would have been to restore personal clothing, property and money to prisoners being discharged . . . One of the prisoners discharged on 10 April, 1969 was a coloured man named David Oluwale. I can say that he was handed the following items of property and clothing: one blue shirt, one plastic cup, two reels of cotton, one hymn book, one form U/140, one leather purse, one form EC4, one leather wallet, one form P45, two photos, one out-of-date bank book, one rosary and one ballpoint pen. All these items were in a plastic bag. I can verify when released, Oluwale was wearing the following clothing: one brown check cap, a green check single-breasted overcoat, a grey striped check waistcoat, a green fancy necktie, pair of brown suede rubber-soled shoes, black fancy socks, green check trousers, elastic braces and a plastic belt . . . Most of his clothing was in poor condition.

  William Edward Swapp, Prison Officer, HMP Leeds Records state that on 10 April, 1969 I interviewed David Oluwale . . . and he was later paid £4 cash.

  Phillip Davies, Executive Officer at DHSS

  Date of discharge: 10.4.69.

  Private cash: £1. 17. 1

  Discharge grant: –

  Offence: Trespassing, disorderly conduct, times two.

  Sentence: 30 days.

  Last discharge: Leeds 8.3.69

  Address: Living rough.

  Any relevant reports (Probation, Children's Officer); any domestic problems: states nil.

  Notes and comments of Prison Welfare Officer, 13.3.69

  Several prison sentences. Released 8 March. Had not worked for some time. No job on release. Single, NSA. Nowhere to go on release. Will probably go to a hostel or some furnished accommodation. Rapidly becoming a social problem (so reports).

  Pre-release interview.

  This man has been released after a sentence of 30 days. Latterly he had been coming to prison every month or so. It is increasingly obvious that he is completely unable to function on the outside.

  Mr Hoyle was present during the interview and it was quite impossible to get through to him. He seemed schizoid to me, one wonders whether or not he was capable of knowing what the discussion was all about. It is certain, however, that he had nowhere to live and no job to go to.

  It is doubtful if he is capable of making a sustained effort at any job. He was told that if he reported to Mr Hoyle on discharge he would be given every assistance possible.

  Plan: Will go to Leeds to look for lodgings. Will sign on at Ministry of Labour. May contact probation and/see officer.

  Clothes: –

  (Signed) W. H. Halla, Prison Welfare Officer

  The Leeds Probation Office.

  The Leeds Probation Service, 10.4.69.

  At the Office.

  Discharged from Leeds Prison today.

  He was not excitable, and it was almost impossible to understand him. He said that he had £1. 19. which was his own money and that he would have no difficulty in finding an address if he gets some more. Gave him a letter to the MOSS at St Paul Street and told him to go straight there. Phoned the manager, Mr Denison, and explained the situation, and he said they would do what they could to help him so that he will have some money to put down for lodgings. Letter written by a senior probation officer to Mr W. Hoyle at the Department of Health and Social Security, 10 April, 1969.

  Dear Sir,

  Re David Oluwale. This man was discharged from Leeds prison this morning. I understand that he has £1. 19. He had lived in lodgings in Leeds previously and said that he would have no difficulty in finding lodgings again if he has the mo
ney.

  He is a somewhat difficult man to place in lodgings and I see no alternative but allowing him to find his own.

  I should be obliged, therefore, if you will take an application from him for assistance so that he can find lodgings.

  As I said, I was a young police officer, but I remember. He seemed to be very small. I saw him when he was sleeping and I didn't wake him up. I saw him when he was walking about, and I saw him when he was dealing with Ellerker and Kitching. I did not see someone who was weak and all sort of jellyish. I saw somebody who was doing his business. He was going about his routine, despite the harassment, and he would still choose to go into that same Bridal House. He would still be there. And so, what I saw was somebody with some sort of courage. But, I mean, weird. I did sense that he'd got mental health problems. Because the other dossers generally were drinkers, and you know, they'd be drunk, very drunk sometimes, but not David. I sensed that his issues were different from that. I guessed that he'd been in some sort of psychiatric care. Yeah I definitely guessed that, and that's one of the things that makes it so poignant. It was the isolation, the fact that he didn't seem to be a user of any sort, and that generally speaking he was just a mild, quiet person. And I just thought, why does this have to be happening to him? The injustice, you know, that it had to be him. Somebody who didn't have anybody to help him. But I saw that the man had some dignity. I think he was really pissed off. That's what I think. He was absolutely pissed off. That's what I believe, but that's only a feeling. I think he was really, really pissed off with what had gone on.