FIRST
PUBLISHED 13th MAY, 2000
RELATIVES of Jay Abatan launched a campaign in his memory at Westminister yesterday. Accountant Mr Abatan, 42, from Eastbourne, died from head injuries after a dispute at a taxi rank outside the Ocean Rooms night spot in Morley Street, Brighton, in January last year.
Charges against two men arrested after his death were dropped in June after magistrates ruled there was insufficient evidence. The men – Graham Curtis, 38, of Porthall Road, Brighton, and Peter Bell, 36, of Addison Road, Hove – were also cleared earlier of assaulting Mr Abatan’s brother, Michael, during the incident.
Michael, Jay’s partner Tanya Haynes and MP Peter Bottomley launched the Justice for Jay Campaign yesterday in the House of Commons. Michael, who believes the attack was racially motivated, said: “I have come here today because I want justice for my brother.
“We were attacked and he was killed. This was in front of lots of people. Someone saw what happened and I want them to come forward.
“The criminal justice system has failed a black person’s family again.”
West Worthing Tory MP Mr Bottomley drew parallels with the Stephen Lawrence case.
He said: “The key point in the question I put to Sussex Police was, where is the assurance that this was treated in the same way as if the victim had been white and the suspects black?”
He rejected the view that an argument over the taxi had led to the Abatans being attacked, instead suggesting the incident was racially motivated.
Mr Bottomley has tabled four parliamentary questions to try to shed light on the investigation.
He is calling for an inquest with a jury into Mr Abatan’s death, a report by Sussex Chief Constable Paul Whitehouse and a report by the Crown Prosecution Service on how it dealt with this case. He also wants a report on the recent assault trial, particularly regarding evidence directed to be withheld from the jury.
Detective Superintendent Alan Ladley of Sussex Police said: “We share the family’s frustration that, to date, we have been unable to prosecute anyone successfully over this, but I can assure the family that we have undertaken a professional investigation.”