Sal Idriss is cleared of influencing murder jury

Published: 13 August, 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

THE photojournalist brother of a murdered teenager has been cleared of allegations that he broke strict rules about speaking to the jury when the killer came to court.

Sal Idriss was accused of possibly influencing jurors in the trial of Ahmet Gomulu, 20, who is serving a 12-year minimum prison term after being convicted of killing Nas Osawe, 16, in broad daylight on Upper Street in December 2007.

A panel of High Court judges was asked to investigate claims by one of the defendant’s neighbours that Mr Idriss had been seen speaking to a member of the jury during a break in 20 year-old Gomulu’s trial.

It ruled that there was “not a shred of evidence to suggest any jury misconduct or irregularity”.

Mr Idriss told the Tribune: “It’s dragged on for too long. Every time we tried to deal with my brother’s death, we kept being pulled back in. Every time you think you’ve closed the page, it’s disturbed again. It’s been disturbing for the family. Now we can close the page, build the bridge back up and get on with our lives. The family is still trying to fill the big gap that’s missing. That gap will never be filled. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss him.”

At his trial in September 2008, Gomulu was said to have stabbed Nas in the street after taking offence that he had looked at him.

A ne­ighbour of Gomulu’s family came forward after the conviction suggesting members of the jury may have been influenced and the case was referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission. It was heard at the Court of Appeal in June.

Mr Idriss said: “I was taken aback as to what this was all about. The first we even knew he was appealing was a year after the trial. If your child has been convicted of any crime as a parent you try to do what you can to try to shorten the sentence. If you know your child has done wrong just let them do the time. 

“They did the crime. I was just really annoyed by it. I was thinking ‘what’s all this to do with me?’”

The appeal centred on the neighbour’s claim that she saw Mr Idriss talking to a black man she believed to be a juror and at another point in which she said she saw him in the same garden area as three white women, one of which she thought may be a juror.

Mr Idriss said: “She saw me in the gallery and the next minute said she saw me speaking to one of the jurors, but I was talking to my uncle. One of the jurors was black. 

“I guess we all look the same.”

The judges ruled the evidence “came to no more than that she had seen three white women walking in the same garden area where the deceased’s brother was talking to his relative. She was sure that one of the women was a juror, and the other two looked as though they may have been. She saw no conversation.”

In conclusion, they added: “In summary, after investigation, there is not a shred of evidence to suggest any jury misconduct or irregularity.”

Since his brother’s death, Mr Idriss has been working on a photo­graphic project inspired by what happened to Nas called Famous for the Wrong Reasons.

On December 27 2007, Nas was the 27th and last teenager to be murdered in London that year – Mr Idriss is focusing on 27 families who have been victims of violent crime.

He has a permanent exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and will be displaying his work at Rich Mix in Brick Lane in October.