2ND LEAD - Royal Marine Walks Free After Proving he Acted in Self-Defence

Royal Marine David Tennison 21 of Luton, walked free after a two year campaign to bring him to court.

David told the jury at the Old Bailey on Friday, "I was just protecting myself" when involved in a 'confrontation' with Bilal Omar 22, in Luton Town Centre on the evening of 13th April 2002

He was cleared of racially aggravated wounding and causing GBH (grievous bodily harm with intent).

David, who joined the Marines from school, was accused of pinning Bilal to the ground with his knees and punching him repeatedly with clenched fists. An eye-witness account described it as a muscle-bound combat soldier pitted against a slightly overweight-needing to get fit businessman.

Now Bilal is registered blind, brain damaged and reliant on his sister Eman for care. He was informed by DC Pearce on 14th April 2002 that David Tennison would be charged with GBH. when he attended the Police Station to give his statement.

It was learnt from the judicial review in December 2002 that the Police decided to caution the Marine partly because of his imminent tour of duty to Afghanistan. This is in line with Mr. Omar's Lawyers going to the High Court and obtaining that very review which ruled that the soldier should have been prosecuted.

Justice Fulford opined that the police's judgement was 'fatally flawed' and there was a 'lack of a sufficiently comprehensive investigation' of the crime and a failure to consult fully with the victim. Tour of duty to Afghanistan was deemed irrelevant. Furthermore, Justice Rose agreed that the caution should be legally quashed.

At the time Eman ( who incidentally is a criminal lawyer herself) expressed her disgust with the Police and elated with the High Court ruling. One vividly remembers her point that “You give a Caution for shoplifting, not GBH.

Noted that the Detective Inspector who carried out an internal review within Bedfordshire Police had supported the Caution route to dissolve the affair.

When initially arrested, Mr. Tennison claimed Bilal had been the aggressor and that he had struck back in self-defence.

"He was capable of doing me a lot of damage, all I wanted was for him to get off me"

When the case eventually came to the High Court (albeit three months earlier than the proposed date), Kevin Barry prosecuting, told the court how Bilal had suffered dizziness, loss of vision, panic attacks and hallucinations. A brain scan a month after the incident showed he had a large blood clot.
"It had put pressure on the optic nerve resulting in loss of sight so that he was registered blind" This was a permanent condition, the jury was told.
"The injuries and loss of sight caused him considerable harm, It was not just physical and mental harm. He has suffered post traumatic stress disorder and depression."

Independent Medical Evidence at the court hearing lent its weight to the suggestion that Bilal had received several significant blows to his head. He remained seriously ill between 14/04/02 and 28/05/02, at which point he was diagnosed with brain damage (Large chronic Subdural Haematoma).

On reflection of the verdict, Bilal said " That he was completely distraught at the decision in that he had been fighting for two years for Justice only to have his attacker released and in a better position than when he first started. (viz. Originally, David was cautioned but as a result of the high court verdict he was now, totally in the clear). Bilal talked at length about an element of bias involved, giving an example that if a judge or someone in his family had gone through a similar experience, their perspective would change and he thought " the level of prejudice he (the judge) showed reflected that it was acceptable to almost kill someone if you are a Marine".

Omar (Father of Bilal)

"If it was a white person, the perpetrator would have been locked up for years, this is a violation of human rights - I will persist till I get justice for my son"

Eman Omar, (Sister of Bilal)

"The case was ‘black and white’, Tennison was originally cautioned for an offence where he pinned Bilal down and threw ten - twelve punches with clenched fists, all caught on CCTV. It is crucial to point out that Bilal had never ever been in a fight in his life, having always conducted himself in a respectable manner.
The ‘attack’ had completely ruined his life, he had a successful car valeting business, where he was incredibly independent yet sociable, now he is a baby all over again.

Mr. Abdul Rahim Malik of The Luton Race Relations Advisory Forum expressed his dismay, "This is a most unfortunate incident, the authorities concerned failed to make the distinction between a trained combat fighter and a normal civilian, the physiques of both people were in stark contrast. As a result of which poor Bilal Omar has been left blind and brain-damaged.”

“ This is a very serious issue and I shall be writing to the Chairman of Bedfordshire Police voicing my concerns. ”

I asked Eman, apart from the obvious emotions and sentiments that one expresses and others can well relate to: What is the way forward?

She explained that they are dealing with the verdict in a calm manner and that they are contemplating a range of measures including Civil Action against David Tennison,
Formal Action against the Police and against the Judge.

She was adamant to finish off our interview with the following concern, “ This man attacked my brother in a racist attack, the judge justified his actions, the police protected him from the outset by giving him a caution (Something unheard of for GBH) They are now offering him round the clock protection at tax payers expense.
Whereas, it is my brother Bilal who should be protected as he is scared of leaving his house because his ‘attacker’ is still walking the streets.
The only reason he has been afforded these privileges is because he is a Royal Marine.”

I considered it necessary to obtain an opinion from Bedfordshire Police and received it from Jo Hobbs from their Press Department as follows,

“We investigated the issue thoroughly, prosecution put the case forward and we are very sad and disappointed with the outcome.”

This is no doubt an highly emotive case to say the least, but I’m sure one of the lessons must be that violence of any kind, deliberate or otherwise, irrespective of who the perpetrator maybe, is mindless, ugly and destroys faith in other human beings. The Old Bailey has given its verdict and that must be acknowledged by all. However, lets hope we don’t come across self- defence cases where the victim is totally scarless while the perpetrator is permanently and inextricably scarred.