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British Transport Police have asked the Crown Prosecution Service to review evidence in the death of railway worker Belly Mujinga.
Mujinga died on April 5 after contracting coronavirus. She became ill days after a man who claimed to have the virus reportedly spat at and coughed on her and a colleague at London’s Victoria Station. She was 47 years old.
After an initial investigation in which a 57-year-old man was interviewed, the police said there was “no evidence to substantiate any criminal offences having taken place”. They did not find CCTV evidence showing the reported evidence and the man produced a negative antibody test, which showed he had not had coronavirus himself. “The tragic death of Belly Mujinga was not a consequence of this incident,” British Transport Police concluded.
Mujinga recently became one of the focuses of the UK’s Black Lives Matter protests, with her name being chanted by crowds and more than a million people signing a petition calling for justice. In a new statement released today (June 5), BTP said it had asked the CPS to conduct an independent review of the evidence as a result of the “wider public interest”, but said the case was not being reopened.
“We can assure the public that we have comprehensively reviewed all the available evidence and have not identified any offences or behaviour that meets the threshold for prosecution,” it said.
“We considered a range of potential criminal offences that might have been committed. Where there is evidence of someone deliberately spitting at another person this might constitute common assault or a public order offence.”
In his own statement, Mujinga’s husband Lusamba Katalay said: “Black lives do matter. Belly’s life mattered. It mattered to me, to our daughter, our friends and family, to Belly’s colleagues, and now it matters to many thousands of you out there.
“We want justice for Belly. Belly didn’t lie about being assaulted. Belly and her colleague were confronted and intimidated as frontline workers and their concerns and their fears were ignored. We continue to have questions after the police investigation.”
Star Wars actor John Boyega gave a moving speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in London earlier this week (June 3), where Mujinga was honoured. The protests began after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25, an incident that has sparked protests in all 50 states in the US and in many countries around the world.
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