A father’s grief laid bare in emotional statement

“Simon San was the youngest of my six children. He had been the main carer of my wife and me since he left school. Simon was a good son and a good brother.

“Simon’s murder destroyed the whole family. Since his death, my wife has been ill. I need to face the fact that my wife will be leaving me soon, shortly after losing my youngest son.

“When the family liaison officer told me my son had died, I could not express myself because there was no interpreter present.

“I found out about the media report of my son’s death through my children because I do not read English. They told me that the senior officer said Simon was in the ‘wrong place at the wrong time,’ and described it as a ‘minor attack’. This caused me great distress. I felt the police were implying that my son deserved to die. My son was at his place of work, conducting his normal work duties.

“When I was taken to identify my son’s body, there was no interpreter. It was almost a week later when an interpreter was present. She did not interpret what I wanted to say. Therefore, I felt I was not able to express my feelings.

“I insisted that my son’s attack was racially motivated on several occasions but was not listened to.

“The findings do not offer me any peace; they merely confirm that we were right that we have not been treated appropriately by the officers.

“The inquiry also demonstrated that the racist incidents before my son’s death were not addressed appropriately.

“I feel there was a lack of respect in appointing an untrained officer to lead the investigation.

“My family and I have lost our faith in police. We feel let down and if we had not complained about our treatment, we would have never found out about the mistakes made by the officers.

“My son lost his life and I am convinced that the accused received a lesser sentence because officers failed to investigate the racial motivation.”