ON 4 May 1969, the body of David Oluwale, a British Nigerian, was recovered from the River Aire in Leeds. A tailor by training, he had come to Leeds in 1949 because of its then thriving textile industry. His death was not treated as suspicious by the police or the coroner at the following inquest, and as Oluwale had been recently homeless and living on the street due to mental health problems, he was given a pauper’s burial.

But in 1970 a police cadet whistle-blower reported police gossip that Oluwale had been systematically persecuted and assaulted by two police officers, Kitching and Ellerker. At the subsequent enquiry and the manslaughter/assault trial that followed it, witnesses said that these two officers had regularly beaten Oluwale; made him bow on his hands and knees — when they would kick his arms away; on one occasion urinated on him; and several times driven him to the city outskirts and dumped him, trying to drive him out of the city.

In the early hours of April 17 1969, the two officers once more assaulted Oluwale as he slept in a shop doorway. He was last seen running away from them towards the river. It’s not known whether he fell into the river or was pushed in. Though the officers were convicted of assault, they were found innocent of GBH and the manslaughter charge was dropped. Oluwale was described by the judge as “a dirty, filthy, violent vagrant,” contrary to the opinion of witnesses at the earlier enquiry, who’d said he was unassuming and cheerful.

After a national outcry at the time, the case was forgotten until its paperwork was released in 2007, under the 30-year rule. The outright racism that had been played down in the inquiry and trials was taken up by a number of artists and writers, and the David Oluwale Memorial Association (DOMA) was set up to keep his story alive and campaign around issues of mental ill-health, racism, homelessness, destitution, police brutality, and incarceration in prison and psychiatric hospitals. 

DOMA succeeded in getting a bridge across the Aire in a new development named after David, and their most recent initiative has been to commission a sculpture from the international artist, Yinka Shinibare, called Hibiscus Rising, representing beauty, love, empathy, passion. This was installed at the end of last November and the well-known poet Ian Duhig, presented a poem to go with it.

Don’t assume DOMA is not needed!  On April 25 2022 a blue plaque commemorating Oluwale was unveiled on Leeds Bridge. The same evening, it was stolen. When replaced, it was vandalised the same night; another, temporary, plaque was installed and a spate of racist graffiti appeared on the bridge. The blue plaque was reinstalled on October 23 2022. 

The Shade of Yinka’s Hibiscus

for the Unveiling of Yinka Shonibare’s Memorial to David Oluwale 
by Ian Duhig

Hibiscus grows new names in every land: 
Shoe Flower seems the perfect choice to me 
for one who roamed so far and drew us near 
to share his shade, and with his shade to stand. 

Abused and hurt to death by those with power, 
he now knows one way to answer Shakespeare: 
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, 
Whose action is no stronger than a flower? 

‘Stigma’ experts call our flower’s crown,
though sounding how the othered get foul names; 
his shade wore proudly one against old hate crimes: 
Carnival’s ‘King David’ in Chapeltown. 

All can shade under leaves of Yinka’s sculpture 
celebrating David’s name in Leeds
whose citizens will truly welcome culture 
nurturing from old rage new love’s seeds. 

Ian Duhig is closely associated with the city of Leeds, where for 15 years he worked with the homeless. Known primarily as a poet, he has also written short stories and plays, including a collaboration ‘God Comes Home’ dealing with the case of David Oluwale