A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the death of Badreddin Abdalla Adam Bosh, an asylum seeker who was shot dead by police after stabbing six people at a Glasgow hotel, is expected to take up to 12 weeks. The 28-year-old Sudanese national carried out the attack on June 26, 2020, at the Park Inn Hotel on West George Street, where he was housed along with hundreds of other asylum seekers during the Covid-19 lockdown.
A preliminary hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that the inquiry will examine “areas of dispute”, including whether a mental health assessment was sufficient and whether tasers should be classified similarly to batons when used by police officers. Several organisations, including the Home Office, Mears Group PLC, the Scottish Police Federation, Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Ambulance Service, and Migrant Help UK, will have legal representation.
Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar granted an anonymity order for police officers involved and said the inquiry is expected to last between 10 and 12 weeks. She noted that the incident had been “clearly distressing for all involved”. Last year, Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain decided it was in the public interest to hold a discretionary FAI.
Emma Toner, representing Police Scotland, said: “The principle area of interest is in the police response to the incident.” Shelagh McCall KC, representing the Scottish Police Federation, stated that Police Scotland “had no knowledge that the hotel was housing asylum seekers” and that had they known, there could have been an opportunity for community engagement to de-escalate issues. She also raised concerns about communication difficulties during the spontaneous firearms incident, as many asylum seekers did not speak English.
Adam Black, representing NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “One area of dispute is questions around assessment of Mr Bosh’s mental health.” Sheriff Principal Anwar noted that the scope for investigating mental health training for officers was “too broad”, but whether they had been made aware of it would be different. She concluded: “Clearly this incident was distressing for all those involved, there is keen interest in moving forward, and that all parties are prepared.”
