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Artist News Legal
Jury rules that Smiley Culture’s death was self-inflicted
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 3 July 2013
Reggae man Smiley Culture, real name David Emmanuel, died from a self-inflicted stab wound, an inquest jury has ruled.
As previously reported, Emmanuel died at his Surrey home during a police raid in March 2011. Police attended the one-time reggae star’s house to arrest him on a new drugs charge (he was already facing other drug-related charges) and to search his premises.
Three officers conducted the search while a fourth stayed with Emmanuel. But before the search was over Emmanuel had died from a single stab wound. His stabbing, officers insisted from the start, was self-inflicted, although Emmanuel’s family said they believed was more to the matter than a man suddenly and violently deciding to kill himself.
But after nearly thirteen hours of deliberation following an inquest hearing, a jury reached a majority verdict yesterday ruling that the official version of events was correct, though it was suggested that the police officer left to supervise Emmanuel was distracted by also being in charge of the ‘premsies search book’, and that with hindsight that was not advisable.
According to The Guardian, the jury foreman said: “David Victor Emmanuel took his own life. Although the tragic events of 15 Mar 2011 were unforeseeable, giving one officer the responsibility of supervising Mr Emmanuel and at the same time the premises search book was a contributory factor in his death”.
Responding to the ruling, the reggae man’s cousin Merlin Emmanuel told reporters: “We have lost an integral part of our family. He had a lot of hope and he had a lot to live for. Why he should have wanted to end his life in that way I do not know, but I do not think he should have been in a position to do that”.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission previously ruled that there were no specific failings on the part of the four officers involved while they were in Emmanuel’s home, and therefore there wasn’t a case to pass the matter onto the Crown Prosecution Service.
