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Casey Style Review Demanded

We demand a Casey style review of all police constabularies in Wales, as we know they are also institutionally racist much like the MET police.

Please show your support for this review by joining the 21 organisations who have already signed the below open letter to the Welsh Government. To be added to the open letter linked below please email: info@freeSiyanda.com.

Welsh Government Open Letter

Your support is truly appreciated!

#dyfedpowyspolice #racistinstitution #duttypowyspolice #freesiyanda

“We need to free Siyanda…

You can see from the details of the case exactly how they left her. That was bad enough. But the Crown Prosecution Service, the Police, all the agencies that are supposed to protect her, have let this young woman down.”

Soweto Kinch – Award winning alto-saxophonist

“What would you feel if your young loved one was racially abused and beaten by a group of people?  Then instead of being protected by the justice system, was sentenced to four and half years in prison for protecting herself. This is what happened to my 21 year old daughter, Siyanda Mngaza. Siyanda had never been in trouble before. By sentencing her, they have destroyed her life chances. She has been failed by the system because of the colour of her skin. I need your help to get justice for Siyanda and set her free.”

Cammilla Mngaza, mother of Siyanda

On 25 May 2019, what started as a joyous bank holiday for Siyanda ended as a nightmare and changed her life forever. Without any provocation, Siyanda was racially abused and physically assaulted by adults much older than her at the Ancient Briton campsite in Brecon Beacons, Wales.

Siyanda and her family expected the police to investigate the incident thoroughly but what they experienced was a litany of failures. To their horror Siyanda who has disabilities, was arrested and then charged with GBH, and she was convicted and sentenced to four and half years on 13 March 2020. 

  • Siyanda is 4” 10’ and was 20 years old when the attack happened
  • She was attacked by 3 people, 2 of them male and twice her age
  • Due to recent reconstructive surgery on her leg, Siyanda was unable to run and could not flee from her attackers
  • There were 5 witness, 3 of which were Siyanda’s attackers and the other 2 are family members of the attackers
  • The attackers were not taken into custody, arrested or charged
  • All 5 witness were permitted to remain at the site of the incident and their statements not taken until the following day
  • Siyanda suffered terrible injuries which are documented in her medical records
  • Siyanda told the officers at the time she had been racially attacked, yet they admitted in court they did not investigate her allegations of a racial assault

Siyanda’s previous Solicitors lodged an appeal against her conviction. The grounds include the failure by the police to present crucial forensic evidence during the trial; the admission during the trial by police that they failed to investigate the race hate crime against Siyanda; and the complete undermining of the assailants versions of events as evidenced by the injuries sustained by Siyanda. Moreover, it is argued the jury failed to properly understand the directions of the sitting Judge in his summing up.

The requested appeal was heard in March 2021 where the judges at the Royal Courts of Justice accepted Siyanda’s face was stamped on, leaving a visible imprint from the sole of the footwear. They also agreed this was indeed inflicted by one of the prosecution witnesses. A man in his 40’s who had said, he was not involved or even near the incident when it took place.

Please remember all of the 5 prosecution witnesses are either related or friends and therefore are not independent witnesses. All of whom stated under oath, Siyanda was not harmed.

What the appeal judges of the Royal Courts of Justice accepted, seriously undermines the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS’s) case against Siyanda. It also undermines the honesty and integrity of the CPS’s none independent witnesses, as it shows they have all lied in court. However, the judges still declined Siyanda’s appeal.
The campaign to free Siyanda continues as we now look to the Supreme Court of Appeal, to put right this terrible injustice.

Further details can also be found in the press release which followed the Royal Courts of Justice appeal hearing.

We therefore need your help please, to raise the funds needed for the Supreme Court of Appeal hearing. As well as funds for the additional expert and specialist insight which is required for to the hearing.

You can help by: