A POLICE Ombudsman investigation has found that police officers, who did not arrest a man, could not have predicted that he would go on to kill hours later.
Ahmed Noor stabbed 29-year-old Mohsin Bhatti multiple times at Botanic Avenue in the early hours of January 29 2015.
A subsequent court hearing was told that Noor, a paranoid schizophrenic, had been smoking cannabis and had heard voices in his head telling him to stab his friend.
Noor pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He was given an indeterminate custodial sentence, and told that he must serve at least six years.
Police had searched Noor shortly after 10pm on the evening before the killing, after they received a report that he had repeatedly tried to enter a flat occupied by two women. The officers then decided that there were no grounds for arrest and allowed him to leave.
The police handling of the incident was referred to the Police Ombudsman for an independent investigation.
When the four officers who responded to the call were interviewed by the Ombudsman investigator, they said that although Noor was nervous, confused and "rambling incoherently," he was compliant and non-aggressive.
The officers said that when they searched him, they found nothing and as he had not committed an offence they had no option but to let him go.
After reviewing the evidence, Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said that the officers had acted appropriately under the circumstances.
“They could not have predicted that he would go on to kill just a few hours later," he concluded.
