Transcription
This is incident KL16010348, the death investigation of Soleiman Faqiri. This is a video of unit 8 segregation at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay. My family's been waiting for answers for the last year and a half. Why did my brother get killed under government care? Why did he have fifty bruises on his body? Why was both his hands and his legs tied? -[ Habiba ]
A few months ago Yusuf Faqiri reached out to me about his 30 year old brother who had died inside this Ontario jail under suspicious circumstances. I need The Fifth Estate to help us. I want to know what happened to my brother. Please help us. -[ Habiba ]
I decided to meet Yusuf in person. How are you feeling? We're still in pain. Still suffering. We're still looking to find closure. Why was he killed? He left our family as a healthy man and he was given to us in a body bag. -[ Habiba ]
So you want to know what happened in that cell? Yeah. He did not just roll over and die. -[ Habiba ]
Soleiman was a straight-a student, captain of his high school rugby team who would toy with the idea of becoming a professional athlete. He then began studying engineering at the University of Waterloo. That's when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Then his family watched as Soleiman's world quickly began to unravel. Ali. And this is Sam. -[ Habiba ]
Hi Sam. Nice to meet you guys. Yusuf invites me to their home, to meet his brothers. So Sam is the third of five, Ali is the youngest. What do you remember the most about him? Ah, his smile. I'd say he loved me the most out of all the brothers. Haha, that's funny! -[ Habiba ]
We go inside for a cup of Persian tea. But genuinely just a good heart, always trying to do the best when he could, but unfortunately it's, um, mental illness has a way of taking a toll on people. -[ Habiba ]
How did his schizophrenia affect him day to day? Lack of sleep I'd say was the biggest issue for Soleiman. -[ Habiba ]
How did that play out? Well there's times where he wouldn't have slept for like maybe 3, 4 days. He'd be uncomfortable. It'd be difficult for him because he tried to go to sleep, he just wouldn't be able to. -[ Habiba ]
It must be debilitating. Yeah, it was debilitating. You know, he wanted to have a life as close as to what he could you know in terms of normalcy. Whenever he took this medication the side effects are unreal with these pills. They'll make him hungry, they'll make him super sleepy, they'll make him restless. Restless you know what I mean? -[ Habiba ]
No doubt some days were worse than others. Like this one. This video was filmed at the local gym where he usually worked out. But things weren't always this bleak. When Soleiman moved from Afghanistan to Canada as a child, life seemed promising. -[ Habiba ]
Do you remember when you guys came to Canada? Yes, I do. -[ Habiba ]
How old were you and how old was he? Soleiman was 8 and I was 10. -[ Habiba ]
What was it like for you guys? It was difficult at first because you know, there's a language barrier. He picked up English faster than me. -[ Habiba ]
Over the years Soleiman had several run-ins with the law. Usually he was taken to a hospital; treated and discharged. However in December 2016, when he allegedly attacked his neighbour, this time instead of a hospital he was taken to a jail cell. What exactly happened to Soleiman in those 11 days that followed? Our investigation begins here. We obtain nearly two thousand pages of documents, police reports, forensic records, including hundreds of crime scene photos. The police investigation notes say Soleiman was being aggressive, assaulting guards and after being restrained, he died. The autopsy report concluded the cause of death was "unascertained." In other words, not known. That's what the family was told. With no cause of death, the investigation was closed. We wonder if clues might be buried in the reams of medical records and documents. We have here the various police reports. Yes. -[ Habiba ]
So we enlisted the help of a leading forensic pathologist, Dr. John Butt. And these would be the autopsy photos. Yeah okay. These are the scene... That's right. These are the scene photographs? Right. -[ Habiba ]
He agrees to review them for us and see whether, based on the evidence, he can determine an actual cause of death. Meanwhile we set out to talk to potential witnesses. We reach out to the guards. Many of them on duty that day were suspended. None of them respond to our request to talk. How about inmates? What did they see? In the police notes we obtained was this name. Anthony Ouellette. -[ Habiba ]
Hi Anthony. I'm Habiba. Hi, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. -[ Habiba ]
He was in the cell next to Soleiman. I'm hoping you can tell me a little bit about what was he like? The first time I met him was the day after he arrived, because he kept the whole range up all night because he was banging his, you know, he was panicking, where he was like, looked very agitated. So, I couldn't really understand what he was saying. -[ Habiba ]
What was he doing? Walking around. Like, I looked right in his cell when I went there and he was just walking around his cell, naked. I just said, "Are you okay? "Do you need help?" And he kept saying, "Yeah, help, help, help". Like, repeating it, you know. He didn't eat. He wouldn't come near his door when the guards tried to feed him. He was um, chanting "Oh Canada", for some reason. Over and over and over. That's what we all remember. This was an individual that, not only suffered from mental illness, I believe shouldn't have been in jail in the first place. All the correctional officers that were on the floor at that time were arguing with the doctor to get him to a hospital. And, he said, I heard it right directly out of his mouth. He doesn't meet the criteria to be sanctioned to a hospital. -[ Habiba ]
Instead of a hospital, Soleiman was moved to another segregation unit where things would quickly escalate. -Ambulance, what is your emergency? -I'm a nurse at Central East Correctional Centre. We have an inmate with vital signs absent. -Okay and do you know what happened? -I'm not sure I just arrived on scene, CPR, they were doing compressions as I was leaving. In here, just get you to sit over there in the purple seat. -[ Habiba ]
This is the police interview with the paramedic who was the first to arrive on the scene. -[ Habiba ]
He told the investigators when he tried to find out how Soleiman had died the story kept changing. Something that left him feeling uneasy. -[ Habiba ]
When we come back, we meet a man whose testimony just might crack open the case. The last thing I want is my face on the news. There are certain rules you follow in jail and snitching isn't one of them, right? My family has been waiting for answers for the last year and a half. Answers as to what happened to our loved one. How my brother, Soleiman Faqiri, a man who suffered from severe mental illness, schizophrenia, was killed under government care. -[ Habiba ]
What continues to nag Yusuf is that his brother's death was deemed "unascertained." Even when there were dozens of bruises all over his body, and a detailed autopsy, still no medical cause of death. How is that possible? So this is where it says, "unascertained." We had shared the records and the autopsy reports with forensic pathologist Dr. John Butt to get a second opinion. Now he's ready to give us his findings. So looking at this evidence, can you determine a cause of death? In my opinion, I would bring this death more to the area of a restraint related death, associated with agitation of the individual, in a situation that is commonly called excited delirium. -[ Habiba ]
Is excited delirium a scientific cause of death? Can it be? Yes. -[ Habiba ]
You would put that on a death certificate? Yeah, I would, in this case. -[ Habiba ]
Dr. Butt points to key injuries on Soleiman's body including deep bruising that indicate where there was pressure on his neck. -[ Habiba ]
What could have that been? Could have been hands on the neck. Could have been an arm around the neck. Could have been a foot on the neck. -[ Habiba ]
What I hear you saying is that he died because he couldn't breathe anymore? Yes. -[ Habiba ]
But were there any eye-witnesses? According to the police notes, John Thibeault was in the cell opposite to Soleiman when he died. The police had suspected he may have seen what happened. But he refused to talk to them. He's out of jail now and agrees to meet with me. Can you tell me what you saw? I seen one of the guards say something, whisper into his ear. I don't know what he said. I couldn't hear it but I know that it agitated him. And he started resisting going to the cell and when he did that one of the guards sprayed pepper spray in his face. -[ Habiba ]
And you could see all that? Yeah. So they got him into the cell and they started beating, right away the female guard hops up onto the bunk the bed 'cause it's higher up because the four guards that were directly on him, each one of those guards is at least over 250, 260 pounds. This corner of the bed right here... that's where they put his head when they were kicking his head off the corner, that corner right there of the bunk. It's horrible. Soleiman was able to get up stand straight up with all that weight on his back, close to a thousand pounds at least on his back trying to hold him down punching him kicking him beating him just whatever shots they could get in. And every time he got up the only place he had to run was the back of his cell. And I seen him run into the wall two or three times. This went on over 10 minutes before they called the code blue finally. -[ Habiba ]
According to him, amid the chaos one of the guards noticed that Thibeault had witnessed the entire event before his window shade was closed. It was clear he had seen too much. There was a smaller guard. Now he -- when he heard the other inmates freaking out what I noticed is, I was sitting there watching. He had a knee on Soleiman's neck. Soleiman's not moving like I said. He has a knee on his neck and he's yelling, "Stop resisting, stop resisting!" He wasn't moving at all. -[ Habiba ]
If someone asked you what happened to Soleiman in there, how would you describe how he died? They beat him to death. I don't-- I don't know how else to describe it. At all. There's no-- there's no other answer. They viciously beat him to death. I think that's what killed him. He stopped breathing because of that. If I had to guess I'm not a doctor or whatever but I know what I seen. -[ Habiba ]
What did investigators ask you when they showed up? They said they were there to investigate a incident that happened earlier in the day and that they reviewed the cameras and they believe that I witnessed what happened. -[ Habiba ]
What did you say? I told them that I didn't witness anything, that I was sleeping. -[ Habiba ]
Why'd you say that? Because of the circumstances, the situation I was in. -[ Habiba ]
You were afraid. Yeah. To be honest with you, yes. I haven't talked about this with anybody besides you guys. The last thing I want is my face on the news, on TV. A criminal who's been breaking the law for this long, the last thing they want is their picture all over the place. There's certain rules you follow in jail and snitching isn't one of them, right? This is the chap from across the hall in the cell? -[ Habiba ]
Exactly. We share the account of the eye witness, John Thibeault, with Dr. Butt to see if it matches up with the medical evidence. They said they couldn't determine a cause of death that it was inconclusive how he died, 'cause there was so many different things that could have killed him. I don't think they can determine which one it was for sure. Hmm, interesting. There was four guards. It was a thousand pounds of weight on top of him. There's a guard with a knee on his neck. There's his head being smashed off metal, numerous punches to the head. I'm pretty sure was 12, 13 minutes of non-stop violence nonstop beating. Like, in my eyes it was unjustified. There was no reason why. Hmm. The statement that I heard, provided by the witness, I thought, was a credible statement. It was well-organized and I have no reason to criticize it. -[ Habiba ]
Dr. Butt says, if the coroner's office had heard the statement from John Thibeault, it might have led to a cause of death. I think it's sort of a case that might be a good one for review. -[ Habiba ]
So, let me get this straight, you think that this would justify reopening this investigation? Yeah, I do. I think it would, uh, justify reopening the investigation. I do feel that. -[ Habiba ]
Soleiman's autopsy was overseen by the Ontario coroner's office. We share with the chief coroner, Dr. Butt's conclusions along with Thibeault's account. Turns out, there is a new development. We became aware of additional information. That was brought to my attention and I felt that that information did require further investigation within a criminal justice perspective. -[ Habiba ]
While we were looking into the case, he has quietly reopened the criminal investigation. And this time it's the provincial police, not the local force, handling the case. To this day, no one has been charged in Soleiman's death, but with the investigation now reopened, all that could change. -[ Habiba ]
Do you ever think about him? Every day. It's funny, I don't even know him. Never even met him. -[ Habiba ]
Former inmate John Thibeault says even two years later, he's still haunted by the beating he witnessed that day. Do you wish you hadn't seen it? I've been through hell since I seen it. Course I wish I didn't see it. Wish it didn't happen. -[ Habiba ]
At the end of our interview, Thibeault says he is now ready to talk to the investigators. This is a stepping stone, right? To me it's a stepping stone. It's the first step I've taken into getting justice for Soleiman and the family. -[ Habiba ]
Yusuf had reached out to us for answers. How are you? Good. How are you? -[ Habiba ]
Six months after our initial meeting, we meet again, this time to tell him what we uncovered. So we sent all the records about your brother's investigation to an independent forensic pathologist and he said that your brother died as a result of excited delirium, related to restraint. And what I take it to mean is he couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe. Yeah. So he suffocated. -[ Habiba ]
Does it help to know at all? What the cause of death was? Yes. It's important. It's critical. -[ Habiba ]
Do you want to keep going? Yes. -[ Habiba ]
There was a witness. And this man was in the cell right across from your brother. He saw the guards attacking your brother. And your brother, according to what he said to us, was not fighting back. So these were the last few moments of his life. -[ Habiba ]
And the final thing is that because new information has come to the chief coroner's office, he's asked to re-open the criminal investigation into your brother's death. That's a good start, Habiba. It's an important start. It gives me hope that-- That my brother's memory can help others. That there are so many others that are suffering in silence, if some good that comes out of my late brother's life, can save someone else, then that's what we want as his memory. Soleiman's story needs to be heard so another father, another mother, another brother doesn't bury their loved one. It has to be heard. -[ Habiba ]
Yusuf finally has some answers as to what happened to his brother but now begins the new chapter... getting justice for Soleiman. [♪♪]