Masa Omer Haji Khaireh (Jail)

Masa Omer Haji Khaireh was convicted of the murder of Hussein Shier and sentenced to death but reprieved.

In August 1950 Masa Khaireh arrived in England on the ship Clintonia and was put in Liverpool Gaol because he had no passport. The shipping master, the agent and the Captain for the ship went to see him in gaol with his money which was £102 for the first trip he made on another ship the Pantrooper and £36.9.2d for his time on the Clintonia totalling £138.9.2d. They gave the money to the Gaol staff to look after for him. Masa Khaireh said that he didnt want the money and that he wanted it sent to his family in British Somaliland but the shipping master said that he couldnt send the money to British Somaliland and said that he would need to get a Somali who would sign the papers for him. Masa Khaireh gave them a name and they later returned with the named Somali. The Somali man said that he would take his £102 and telephone Cardiff for Hussein Shier.

Later the Somali returned to Liverpool Gaol with Hussein Shier and they signed in. Hussein Shier looked at the marks on Masa Khaireh's face and took all the particulars about his tribe and then said that he would go to the London Home Office to fix his papers and passport.

Hussein Shier had been away a couple of days when he returned with the other Somali man and told him that he had been to the London Home Office and paid £500 bail to get him out of gaol saying that he was now a free man. Masa Khaireh stayed in gaol for another 2 days and then the immigration people came and took him out and took him to the Colonial Welfare Office in Liverpool and then later he saw Hussein Shier at the Liverpool Welfare Office.

Hussein Shier told him that they then needed to go to Cardiff and then he would write to Somaliland and when they got the return letter they would send it to the Home Office and they would then be able to get his passport. Hussein Shier told Masa Khaireh that he had taken £50 of his money from the other Somali man and that he would give it back when he got his £500 back from the Home Office. Masa Khaireh then went to see the Somali man and was given his other £52 but Hussein Shier said that he should look after that too until he got the £500 back from the Home Office.

The next day he went to the shipping office in Liverpool to get his wages from the Cliftonia, £36.9.2d but he didnt touch the money as Hussein Shier took it. After they went by train from Liverpool to Cardiff.

When they got to Cardiff Hussein Shier told Masa Khaireh that all his money was with the Home Office and so he would need to spend his money on his shop and said that when he got the £500 back he would pay him pback his money. Masa Khaireh said that he had no money and so Hussein Shier told him to go to the assistance board and claim 27/6d a week from them.

Masa Khaireh also had some other wages from the Pantrooper ship and asked for £10/month to be paid into a Merchant Navy Savings Bank but Hussein Shier told him that he would look after the money and also tookk another £30 that he had got in wages totalling so far £178.9.2d of money that he had got from Masa Khaireh. At the time Masa Khaireh had only 27/- a week from the assistance board to live on.

Then Masa Khaireh got a letter from Somaliland with proof of his nationality for the Immigration. He then took the letter to Hussein Shier together with some other documents and said that he could now get his £500 back. He said that everyday he went to see Hussein Shier he said that he would go tomorrow. 4 weeks after he had arrived in Cardiff Hussein Shier gave Masa Khaireh his passport and later he went to the Colonial Welfare Office where he was told he was free.

Hussein Shier then told Masa Khaireh to throw away some of the other documents but Masa Khaireh said he would not do so until he had got back his money. Later when he asked Hussein Shier about his money Hussein Shier said 'I have no money, no property, no bank book. I play the dice and the dogs and if I win I pay you'. Masa Khaireh then said he thought of going to the police but didnt go. He told Hussein Shier that he was going to the police but Hussein Shier got two other men and went to see Masa Khaireh and the men said 'You no go to the police station. Sit down and we make a committee'. Masa Khaireh said that he had proof that Hussein Shier had his money and Hussein Shier said he had no money but that if he got some he would give it to him.

Masa Khaireh got no money from him and went to Newport to look for a job and got one at WA Bakers factory at the Courtybella Works. On Good Friday 1951 he had a holiday and went to see Hussein Shier about his money and asked him for anything, £5 or £10, anything. Then Hussein Shier said 'I am the master, Hussein Shier. You ask me for money. The next time I see you in Sophia Street I put seven bullets  through your head'. Masa Khaireh said that when he said that his blood boiled. He went back to Newport but returned to see Hussein Shier 4 weeks later and met him in Sophia Street. He said that then some other Somalis came along and they told him to finish working in Newport and they would get him a job on a ship in Cardiff. Then Hussein Shier told him to draw his money from his savings book and get his wages from the factory and come to Cardiff, which he did, taking out £16. he then asked for his money again from Hussein Shier adn also a receipt but Hussein Shier said 'I dont owe you any money now. Finish. The money you had I work for when you were in Gaol'. Then as he was leaving Hussein Shier said 'The next time you come back here I put seven bullets in your head'. Masa Khaireh said that then he knew that he had lost his money and that his family in Somalia were hungry. He then said to Masa Khaireh 'You were born in nine months, I was born in nine months, unless you give me money maybe you die or maybe I die'.

Then on 15 May 1951 Masa Khaireh went to Cardiff from Newport after having brought a gun in Newport. He then went to Sophia Street and then onto Angelina Street where he saw Hussein Shier. He said that Hussein Shier had his hand in his pocket and he thought he might have a gun and so he shot him because he thought he might shoot him.