Who killed 19-year-old Toba Falode in Dubai?

Three months after the suspicious death of Toba, the 19-year-old son of AIT sportscaster, Aisha Falode, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, his mother is still crying for justice. She recounts the traumatic experience to TheCable

 

‘Tyler has passed’

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On February 15th, 2014, I got a call at 3:05am. I remember the time so well because I had just gone to use the bathroom. Just as I was laying my head on the pillow, my phone rang. Immediately I saw the call, I said this cannot be good, because it was a Dubai number and my son, whose social name is Tyler, lives in Dubai. I said hello and the fellow on the other end said “this is what I have been saying about your son and his friends”. There was a lot of commotion on the background and I said what happened? The line went off, and frantically I tried calling back.

The voice was that of one of the security men, a Nigerian, but he was not picking. I knew my son had a friend he was very close to who was like his best friend. We had gone to spend Christmas and New Year with him. I left on January 3rd. He kept talking about this friend, a South African and was continually going to see him. They were always communicating and I had his number, so since I was calling my son’s number and his phone was switched off, I called his number. At 3:10am, I got through to him and the first question I asked was: “Where is Tyler?” He said “I am sorry Ma, he passed.” I said what?!!!

 

‘He fell from the balcony’

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I was alone in the house. I had spoken with my son hours before, he was quite happy. He had just closed from church, because I could hear church commotion on the background. They go to church every Friday in Dubai. And then I asked how it happened, he said Tyler fell from the balcony. I said where is he now? He said he is in my son’s apartment and that he had called the ambulance.

I instructed him that when the ambulance comes they should not move him so as to give me time to call some pastors over there and so they would start praying for him, that my son should not die. I started calling pastors to start praying for my son. When I could not get any of them, I got through to a member of the church my son attends. But I knew that the worst had happened.

‘He was swinging on a rail’

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Later that day, I spoke with this same South African to know why my son’s phone was switched off when I called earlier. He said the battery had been dead but that he was charging it so he could get some numbers to call. After some time, that same day, the friend called me back and said he has just been released from the police station and that he wanted to know when I would be coming to Dubai and I told him I did not know.

The police gave us a report now that it had been established that my son had died and the report said that my son was sitting on the rail on the balcony with his girlfriend, Olivia Richards Evans, a Briton, that my son was swinging on the rail and that she had warned him that it was dangerous but that he did not listen to the girl and she went back inside the house and that by the time she came back to the balcony my son was no longer there, that he had fallen off the balcony. Therefore they would put the cause of death on fall from a great height and that since there was alcohol in his blood samples, that may have contributed to it.

 

‘All eyewitness accounts the same’

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There were five of them in the apartment: Fazal, a Saudi Arabian; a South African whose name I won’t mention; Joachim Sentene, a French Canadian; and Olivia Richard Evans, British. That since the account of all of them were the same, that he was swinging back and forth on the rail of the balcony, so they did not have further grounds to investigate because the testimonies of all the witnesses were the same.

I knew that could not be right because I know the apartment so well. I knew there was no way anyone could sit on the rail let alone be swinging back and forth on it. First it is high and there is nothing to sit or hold on to give you the balance, let alone be swinging back and forth and if you were in the sitting room you could see and hear anyone talking on the balcony because it is a small apartment.

 

‘I was so devastated after burying my son’

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So when my family members went to bring my son’s remains back home, I told them to demand the full report of the investigation from the police and also give us the witness statements and perhaps the interrogation. That they should also demand for the medical report but the police told them that as individuals we could not demand for the report and that we have to write through our embassy to make the request and they did.

The embassy confirmed and forwarded it to us. We got a reply to that, first week of May. So after we buried my son on March 3rd, 2014, I was so devastated, but I knew I had to travel. While I was abroad I made contact with some lawyers and told them what had happened, that I want to prosecute. They told me Dubai operates state police and that private prosecution was not possible over there, that it has to be state prosecution.

‘An emotional roller coaster’

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So when I came back to Nigeria I contacted Festus Keyamo. I told him what I wanted and he also contacted some of his friends. I then decided that for me to get the Nigerian state to help I would need some kind of compelling evidence to put before them and I knew I could not get it while sitting in Nigeria. It was an emotional roller coaster but I knew that if I did not do it I won’t have rest. I also wanted justice, my peace and a measure of closure. I knew that as a mother I had to do something.

So Festus and I went to Dubai. The first person I contacted was the South African friend because my son was closer to him. I called him but he was not picking so I sent him a text message, telling him that I was in Dubai and that I wanted to speak to him. He didn’t reply so I then decided to reach his mother. I contacted her, she was quite happy that I had come and that she would be happy to see me. We agreed to meet that day and for her to also bring her son along. She brought him and I came up with a strategy that would make them tell me the truth of what happened that day at the apartment.

 

‘Altercation over a girl’

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He started by telling us what had happened between Fazal and my son Tyler. That sometime in December, they both had an altercation on account of a girl, Olivia Evans.

Fazal had accused Olivia of cheating on him with my son sometime in December but on February 14th, there was another heated argument between Fazal and Olivia at a club they all went to. At a point, Fazal and Olivia left the club and when the club closed, the rest of them including my son went home and were surprised to meet the lovers who left earlier by the door of my son’s flat. According to him, Olivia was in some kind of distress and she was crying but Fazal seem very calm and expressionless, so my son opened the door and everybody went into the flat.

‘Splatter of blood on the T-shirt’

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My son, Olivia and Fazal went into the bedroom because my son was trying to make peace between both of them. After a while, they left the room and went to the balcony while the others were listening to music and would not know what was going on in the balcony but that the next time they would see Olivia and Fazal coming back from the balcony, was to tell them that Tyler had fallen from the balcony and that Fazal had splatter of blood on the T-shirt he was wearing. He also had bruises on his knuckles.

They all rushed to the balcony and of course my son was not there. He said Fazal was telling them: “Don’t worry I got this covered. I would go for 25 years maximum.” He was saying that and then he was rushing to the lift to go down stairs. Then the police came and interviewed them and they took Fazal aside and they were speaking Arabic, he was going back and forth and kept telling them, “Don’t worry, I would go for 25 years.” Later, they all went to the station and police took statements from them.

 

‘Write the same statement for me’

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At this point I had to stop him and asked him if what he was telling me was the statement he gave to the police. He said “yes” and I told him that the reason I asked was because the police said that accounts by all witnesses were the same which was that Tyler was alone in the balcony when he fell. He said it was not so.  In fact, the mother now answered that he was with him and Joachim when they gave their statements and that his son’s account was what he was telling me now and that if I want her to come with me to the police station, she would.

I said there is no point coming, that what we can do was for him to write this same statement for me so that I can have it with me to present to the station. He said why not, so I gave him a paper and a pen and he wrote and included that this was the same account he gave previously on the day of the incident, he dated it and signed it.

 

‘Police were lying on witnesses’ statements’

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But I needed to get one more person to join in this statement. I called one other friend of my son who was also a witness to the incident. He is a Nigerian. I did not bother to call Olivia and Fazal because they were the last people to see my son and if the police were lying on witnesses’ statements, it must be on account of these two and even if I try I would not get anything from those two, if anything I may even put myself into trouble.

So I had to start looking for a way to get this Nigerian. I eventually got through to him and he promised to come and see me that night but he called back to say that where we were was very far from where he stays and that it would be too late for him to go back to his place when we finish. He promised to come the next day by 9am.

 

‘The same account from another witness’

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Festus then decided to go to the apartment to see what the apartment looked like and have an idea and between that time we now got through to him and I told Festus to start coming back. The boys started talking, relating the incident back to December.

All what he said was the same thing the first witness narrated. He said though he was inside but he heard raised voices at the balcony. He then parted the curtain to see what was happening and then saw Fazal’s hands flying violently in the air and that my son was standing, not sitting, on the rail as they have claimed. He added that where my son’s body was found was too far away from the building for anyone to have fallen off from the balcony.

 

‘He should have dropped vertically’

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Festus Keyamo also confirmed that when he got to the apartment  he discovered that the spot where my son’s body was found was about fifteen metres away from the building where he supposedly fell. So for somebody who dropped, he should drop vertically. He also included that in the statement.

So with all these put together I am wondering why the police would hide the fact that Fazal and Olivia were with my son when he died, the fact that the witnesses’ statements were different, what would make them not take the shirt with the blood stains as vital evidence, but instead they let him walk away.

 

‘I need the help of Nigerian government’

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Another friend who was not there when the incident happened said he ran to the police station when he heard what happened and he said he also saw what the other witnesses saw and that he asked Fazal how he came about the blood on his shirt and Fazal said it was while he was trying to pull my son up when he was falling that he got the blood stains.

I do not even know how that is possible. This is where I need the help of the Nigerian government. When I came back, I tried making contacts with people I know in the senate. I understand while I was away, the incident was mentioned on the floor of the National Assembly.  They wrote a letter to the committee in the Diaspora to take to the embassy for it to investigate the incident and get back to them. But I do not know if the embassy has gotten back to them.

 

‘I have compelling evidence’

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Now that I have this compelling evidence, I know my son is dead and buried. If what I know of Dubai now is what I knew before, my son would not have gone to school in Dubai. The impression we have of Dubai is what it is. We are just getting to know that some students have died before. It means that if this information is not out, others would die again and indeed when I went for Easter, I was told of a Master’s student’s death, who they said fell from a yacht, that they had been out celebrating something and then he fell because he was drunk. He fell inside the water.

I remember those times when I was talking to the ambassador. He did mention that this is not a place to send Nigerians to for study. In the month of which my son died, five other people died, my son was number five although he denied saying that, that four other people have died, three of them Nigerians. And I said by the way sir, who did you tell? Did you tell the Nigerian government about the situation of Nigerians with these people in Dubai because if you told anybody the information will be out there, if you now decide to still send your child there, you face the responsibility but when the information is not shared, I am sorry sir, you have not done your job.

 

‘The dark side of Dubai’

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And this is at the point where I not only want the information shared about Dubai, that there is a dark side to that city but I also want justice for my son, that I know that my son did not fall from the balcony by himself because of the evidence that I have and I would wonder why the police will be covering and not take vital evidence in a case of murder.

Now coming back to the full investigative report that I asked for, when they sent it back to me, nothing was different from the initial report that they gave to me, nothing at all. Only this time, not only was the name on the statement wrong, my son’s name was spelt wrongly, the apartment number was not correct, whereas the apartment is 1703, they said something about 14 something, the age too was wrong.

 

‘The killing will continue’

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So, that tells you they did not even bother to make any thorough investigation if things as basic as the name, the age and the address of the crime scene is not correct, so I would wonder why plus these other different versions, they told us in their report as being the same as all these other witnesses. So I think now is for the Nigerian government to start, you know we have lost so many lives, my son unfortunately is just another number, that because we have not done anything with those who happened before, this killing will continue.

Now is the time to place premium on the lives of Nigerians whether home or abroad, that life is not cheap. You know I sit here, I am just seeing my son every day, his future had great potential that he was looking out to. The future was full of so much promise, he had a clear idea of what he wanted to become in the future and he was pursuing that dream with so much passion for music and entertainment and to have that voice silent forever, to have the dream just cut short, to have his life taken away so violently in his own apartment.

 

‘Worst thing a parent can go through’

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I think is the worst thing any parent should ever have to go through and still to be the one to have to investigate my son’s death is traumatic, to have to go back to that city and to start… is just beyond me how our government can just sit back and put families through this agony.

When we came back Festus did petition and circulate to all of them, of course they acknowledged the copy, but they have not responded, and it would be two weeks now since we have sent it, nobody has responded which is why I am now coming back, I need the help of the media to help see how we can compel the government, it can be anybody, there are so many Nigerians because they have so many schools.

 

‘We needed to get out as fast as possible’

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The point is when we had this new evidence, when we now know the police was covering up, it was at our own risk to now go back to the police. First, we were in Dubai as tourists and we were doing investigation, so the fact that we had those two people, I think it was just by God’s grace and we needed to get out as fast as possible, because we don’t know who would have known that we were talking to these people.

Even Festus had said once we get these witnesses’ evidence, we would go court and make a disposition and I told him that at this point forget about going to court, they are telling us that this is a police state and now that we have evidence against them you want us to go and report ourselves to the police. I said no that is not nice, what we have is enough.

 

‘We opened a facebook condolence’

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On the day that my son died, we opened a condolence page for him on his facebook and people were going there to post comments and RIP, so many people wrote things. Olivia also went to the condolence page and she said: “RIP, I’ll miss you forever and so on”. She went to the facebook and wrote in English on my son’s condolence page that we opened for him. She said: “I am sorry I was not able to help you”. They captured her.

And Fazal goes to the same page, posted a picture of my son and Olivia together ‘RIP Tyler’. I think this was the last picture they took together. We were asking questions and they told us that Fazal’s dad, although is Saudi, but that they have heavy investments in Dubai, so that could also be a factor to why they want to cover up so much.

 

‘The second friend that would die’

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Their law is an eye for an eye, so why would they treat your own citizen differently? The South African friend, although he did not like that he was on the audio, said that while they were down, Fazal now went and he was holding my son and saying: “Oh my God, why is this happening again that this is his second friend that would die.” And I said did you ask him how the first one died. They said no, they were too distraught but he was saying this is the second friend that would die.

They did not take pictures at the scene. The security at the apartment showed Festus where the body was found and you can still see where they tried to clean the blood and the dark stains. I asked the security that I thought this building had CCTV; Dubai Marina is a very high brow area in Dubai. I said they told us that there is CCTV in this building and he said yeah, there is but he does not cover the floor, it covers a thirty Storey building, it does not cover the floor, it only covers the entrance. I said okay, at least can we see when they went out to the club and when they came back, at least that will give you an idea of what state they were in when they went out and when they came back.

 

‘Not captured on CCTV’

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He now said that well, they were not sure it captured, that means they don’t have it or they have blanked it. Everywhere has CCTV, even shops in Dubai. Even if they don’t have, I am sure that around there, other houses will have CCTV because you see infrared flashing on top of every building, that is to show you the CCTV is on.

And then on the log book, as a visitor before you go in, you sign because the security post is close to the lift, so whoever is coming in or going out, you pass the security post and as a visitor, if you are not a resident, you sign in and out. Why did they let Fazal, at that ungodly hour, climb up to that apartment with Olivia to go and meet a resident, one who was not even at home?

 

‘Visitor’s book Tippexed’

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We also noticed according to Festus, that the visitors’ book, that they tried to Tippex some things and that one of the security men, a Pakistani, had been transferred from the building soon after the incident. I do not think we can have other evidence apart from what we have on ground before. The Nigerian government will not demand… we have an embassy in Abuja, even if it means summoning their ambassador.

My son would have been 20 on the 20th of May. Since my son died and was buried, I could not summon the courage to see where he is being rested. I have never been there, but today, I said no, I must go; for the first time, I saw what was left. You know how hard that is, 19-year-old, he was a very loving boy, very trusting, too friendly to some extent. I would not say naïve. It was just the way he drew people near, open mind, very giving.

 

‘Don’t tell me how to treat my girl’

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I asked, I said, was Olivia going out with Tyler? Did they have anything? His friend said no and that all he knew was that they were very good friends and that Tyler did not like the way Fazal treats Olivia and that was what the altercation in December was all about. It was a case of “don’t tell me how to treat my girl”. Remember the statement that the police gave to us… they referred to Olivia as my son’s girlfriend, that he was on the balcony with his girlfriend who was trying to talk him out of coming down from the balcony.

So when this news broke that they were the main suspects, they started responding on facebook and one of my son’s friends, I do not know how but you know these young people with the social media, he found Olivia’s pin number and started chatting with her, “So, tell me what happened that night? Were you cheating on your boyfriend with my friend?” And that one replied and said no, that they were just good friends, that Tyler was not her boyfriend.

 

‘On several levels, Dubai police lied’

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So, on several levels the police lied. This boy (Fazal) said he was going to spend 25 years and that’s an admittance of guilt and if you also found blood on the t-shirt, that evidence could be vital, why did you not take it and why let the suspects go hours after a murder? And they also said they allowed Olivia call her parents and that by the time they got to the station, her parents were there with a lawyer and she was interviewed with Fazal in the presence of a lawyer while these other people were denied.

 

‘My life can never be the same again’

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Sleep for me is not natural anymore because I cannot even sleep. You can imagine going for days, weeks, months and then in the quiet of the night, you play that thing back, I got this call in the night, so the memories are coming back and they are doing things to your mind, it is just so hard and this is for life, it can never be the same.

I will just disrupt the family for now, and I do not think it is fair, it is not fair on me, it is not fair on anybody, it is not fair which is why some people need to take responsibilities for whatever they do just so you know that there is a consequence for bad behaviour, more especially for murder, you do not have a right to take a life.