Jimmy Mubenga jurors don handcuffs in reconstruction of final moments

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/17/jimmy-mubenga-jurors-handcuffs-court

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Jurors were put in handcuffs on Monday to experience first-hand how an Angolan deportee would have felt in his final moments aboard an aeroplane before he collapsed and died.

With their hands locked behind their backs, six of the 12-strong panel agreed to sit in a mockup of Boeing 777 seating at the Old Bailey.

Three G4S guards are on trial accused of causing the death of 46-year-old Jimmy Mubenga by restraining him while the plane taxied for takeoff at Heathrow airport. Terrence Hughes, 53, Colin Kaler, 52, and Stuart Tribelnig, 39, allegedly disregarded their duty of care by ignoring Mubenga’s cries that he could not breathe.

Mr Justice Spencer cleared the dock and public gallery to enable any of the jurors who chose to do so to be put in the same type of rigid double-locking handcuffs that Mubenga was put into. Only the judge, court staff, a police officer and representatives’ lawyers were allowed to stay, as well as journalists from the BBC and the Press Association.

The judge said: “We have two representatives of the press – it cannot be a private hearing. There are no members of the public in the public gallery. Please all of you feel free to stand where you want and gather round to get a better view.”

The jurors were invited to take a seat in the middle of the back row of the specially constructed aircraft seating, which was where on the plane the victim had been restrained between two of the guards with a third leaning over the top of the seat in front.

Five men and one woman of the jury took their turn to be put in cuffs while the remaining four men and two women crowded around the three rows of three seats set up near the dock.

Each juror who came forward was told to put their hands on their head as their right hand was cuffed and placed behind their back by a police officer before their left hand was locked in position too.

A female court usher was asked to assist with the female juror, although the judge said: “I’m not sure it’s in your job description.”

The police officer struggled to get the handcuffs on one broad-shouldered man, and after a few attempts the judge called a halt.

As they retired for a few minutes following the exercise, at least one of the jurors was rubbing his wrists in some discomfort.

As well as taking a position where Mubenga would have been restrained with his head down, two or three of the jurors also took up the place where one of the three guards would have leaned over the seat in front, kneeling.

The court has heard that before Mubenga was taken on to the plane on the evening of 12 October 2010, he had been fit and healthy and had co-operated with the guards.

He became upset after leaving the plane toilet, which led the three guards to restrain him in his seat. After 35 minutes, a member of the cabin crew raised the alarm while the aircraft was taxiing for takeoff.

Mubenga had gone into cardiac arrest and he was pronounced dead in hospital later that night, the court has heard.

Mubenga was an Angolan national who had been living in the UK for a number of years with his wife and children, the youngest of whom was a few months old.

Hughes, from Portsmouth, Kaler, of Kempston, Bedfordshire, and Tribelnig, from Horley, Surrey, deny manslaughter. The trial continues.