PRELIMINARY hearings into the fatal shooting of an asylum-seeker who stabbed six people at a Glasgow hotel got underway today.

Twenty-eight-year-old Badreddin Abdalla Adam Bosh was killed by armed police at the city’s Park Inn Hotel on June 26, 2020, after stabbing three asylum-seekers and two hotel workers as well as a police officer who responded to the incident.

Mr Bosh had earlier volunteered to return to Sudan, a process delayed during the pandemic as he along with hundreds of other asylum-seekers were housed in city centre hotels under a controversial government contract with Mears. 

During his three months in the hotel awaiting a return home, Mr Bosh made 72 separate calls for help as his mental health went into decline — apparently without intervention, a matter expected to feature heavily in the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI).

Presiding, Sheriff Principal of Glasgow and Strathkelvin Aisha Anwar told the hearing 83 witnesses were currently expected to contribute to the discretionary FAI.

“There will be chapters of evidence that will be difficult for his family and friends to hear and reliving the events will be traumatic,” he said.

“This inquiry will do all it can to ensure the difficult chapters of evidence are handled sensitively.”

Speaking outside the court after the preliminary hearing, the family’s solicitor, human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, said: “Previously some of those injured by Mr Bosh had said they did not blame him because of the decline in his mental health, but they had raised serious allegations about the failings by the Home Office and others.

“The Home Office and the Mears group at the time was heavily criticised for uprooting hundreds of refugees and asylum-seekers and moving them into hotels emptied because of the lockdown.

“Those advocating on behalf of asylum-seekers and refugees complained that hundreds of vulnerable and frightened people were being forced into hotels and cramped spaces when social distancing was being advised by the government.”

Mr Anwar said that questions were raised at the time on whether there was adequate medical and psychiatric support for those in the hotel.

“Mr Bosh’s family have already raised concerns as to whether lethal force was necessary,” he said.

A further preliminary hearing is set for June 23 at Glasgow Sheriff Court.